


Intimidation Check

by Serazimei



Series: Fear Reduction [2]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Author has only basic understanding of Technology, Canon-Typical Violence, Crime, Enemies to Friends, Established Relationship, Hurt Connor (Detroit: Become Human), Hurt/Comfort, M/M, OCs for the Case, Post-Canon, Sprinkles of fluff, Upgraded Connor | RK900 Being An Asshole, i did minimal research, srsly don't check the facts, yay for creative liberty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-01
Updated: 2020-02-05
Packaged: 2021-02-28 02:53:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 42,705
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22506604
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Serazimei/pseuds/Serazimei
Summary: Gavin thought he had gotten over his fear of certain Androids. But Nines plays in a whole different league. Working together? A nightmare.Meanwhile Connor is trying his best to give Nines advice on how to be less intimidating failing to see that the RK900 enjoys making others tremble in fear.Then there is the issue with Connor still struggling with this new virus. And the fact that he has no clue how to deal with Gavin being his boyfriend now.Oh, and the crime lords behind the whole mess need to still be found, too. Enter Elijah, the man of the hour to make everything even more complicated.
Relationships: Connor/Gavin Reed, Elijah Kamski & Gavin Reed, Hank Anderson & Connor, Hank Anderson & Gavin Reed, Upgraded Connor | RK900 & Gavin Reed
Series: Fear Reduction [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1323995
Comments: 28
Kudos: 75





	1. Chapter 1

„He is a fucking nightmare.“ Gavin concluded once he had finished his rant about his new partner RK900.

He had been so glad to finally be done for the day. Hank hadn't been happy to see him, but had relented. Connor had invited him over after all. Said sick Android was sitting on his bed in Coles former room, Sumo on one side and Snickers on the other, while holding Gavins hand, who sat on the edge of the bed.

„The RK900 unit was supposed to be my successor, Gavin. He was build with intimidation in mind and lacks the social protocols I have. He is probably still adjusting.“

„I don't know, Con. He seems to really enjoy freaking other people out.“

„Give it time. We needed months to warm up to each other. So did Hank and I.“

Gavin huffed, unsure. Snickers gave a little unhappy growl as he was being moved so Gavin could cuddle up to his boyfriend. He needed the soothing attention after the stressful day. His dog easily settled back on his lap. Connor laid his head on his shoulder, sneaking an arm around Gavins back, joining in on petting Snickers with the other.  
It was a little weird. How easy it all seemed once the ice finally broke. Gavins heart still spiked, but now he couldn‘t decipher anymore if it was out of fear or the normal nervousness and excitement a new relationship always brought with it.

„Hey, you okay?“ Gavin whispered softly. Gaze fixed on the red ring on Connors temple.

„Hm...There's another attempt at encrypting my data.“

„You're able to fend it off, though?“ Gavin asked fearfully.

„Yes. It's slow. I'm able to calculate the right password for decryption while it's encrypting. It just takes a lot of energy.“

„Rest then. I think we both need a nap.“

Despite what he said Gavin didn't close his eyes, opting to watch Connors LED circle from red to yellow and back. Gently he started to run his hands through the soft hair of his Android. Although he didn't know if it was to calm Connor or himself. His thoughts were scattered. He still couldn't believe he was actually dating a sentient heap of plastic. What was he even thinking? What was Connor thinking? Letting the two men who abused him before deviancy so close?

„How is he?“ came a whisper from the doorway.

„He's holding up.“ At least Gavin hoped that was the case.

„Good. Mind joining me in the kitchen?“

He did mind. He didn't want to leave Connor alone. But he also knew Hank wouldn't take no for an answer. „Give me a sec.“

He moved carefully, so as not to disturb Connor or the dogs too much. When he was satisfied with the way they had arranged themselves he went off to find Hank. Two glasses of whiskey stood on the kitchen table. Hank was steering something inside a pan. It smelled suspiciously burned.

„Hungry?“

Gavin shook his had as he sat down. „No, thanks.“

„Alright then.“ Hank huffed as he joined him with a bowl of brown and blackish scrambled eggs. „Just gonna give you a heads up here, pal. Richard has requested to stay here while your working the case.“

Gavin took a long swig of his whiskey to digest that new piece of information. „What? He didn't tell me anything! Why would he-“

His angry questioning was interrupted by the shrill ring of the doorbell. Moments later RK900 stood in the kitchen, straight as a pole, judging eyes surveying the room as if it were a crime scene. Gavin shrunk back a bit as Richards gaze went over to him, but bristled when he was ignored.

„Lt. Anderson, where is Connor?“

„He's in bed, asleep, asshole. Leave him alone.“ Gavin growled.

Nines kept staring at Hank, who was starting to fidget, frozen in place at the doorway.

„I asked you a question. Lieutenant.“

„Reed already told you.“

„I won't repeat myself.“

It was said in such a threatening tone that even Hank shrank down a bit. „He's in his fucking room. In stasis. Fighting the virus. Happy?“

„Very.“ RK900 said, venom dripping from the word as he tried to exit the kitchen. Hank blocked the doorway, arms crossed.

Gavins heartbeat sped up as the two drew closer. They were both about the same height, but Gavin was pretty sure that RK would win, if it came to a fight. He stood up, just to be safe. Whether it was to flee or to assist Hank he could not tell. Damn he wished he had taken his gun with him.

„You won't disturb him.“ Hank growled. „You're new so I'll let your horrible attitude slide for once. But remember: this is my house and I can kick you out whenever I want. If you want to see Connor, you'll wait until he is awake.“

The silence that followed felt like thin ice ready to splinter. And under it would be hell waiting to be unleashed. Okay, maybe Gavins imagination had run away from him, but damn the room was tense.

„Very well then. I will wait.“

„Why are you staying here anyway? Don't you have a home? Won't Connor be able to accidently infect you?“ Gavin asked as Hank joined him at the table, downing his glass of whiskey.

He was ignored again, Richard opting to inspect the still sizzeling pan, turning off the stove with a disapproving frown.

„Hey! I'm talking to you, asshole!“

Richard took the pan and dumped it into the sink, which he filled with water. „I wouldn't call the annoying noises you make whenever you open your mouth talking.“

Gavin glared at Hank as he chuckled. „Hey, the burn was good. Let an old man have his fun.“

„You're horrible.“ Gavin pointed out.

„Speak for yourself.“ Hank countered.

„But seriously Richard, why the hell are you here?“

The most efficient Android Cyberlife had to offer sighed, scrubbing the pan maybe a little to aggressively. „If you keep adding tasteless swear words and insults into your sentences I might just have to rip your tongue out in self defense.“

Hank choked on the sip he had taken from Gavins glass. Gavin instinctively curled his tongue and leaned away from the Android as if that would somehow help him if Richard really did decide that to be the best course of action. When Richard saw the way he reacted he flashed him a sharp grin, showing perfectly white teeth and- Where those fangs?! What the fuck? This guy was a psychopath. A fucking psychopath. Thank fuck he didn't need to house that abomination.

„Alright, time for rules. No threats of violence in this house, except when they comes from me, got it?“

„Is the act of violence prohibited as well?“ the RK900 asked innocently.

„Yes. Absolutely.“

„What's going on here?“ a tired Connor asked, swaying were he stood in the living room. Sumo and Snickers were flanking him on both sides, eyeing the new Android curiously. Sumos tail was wacking, expecting a new playmate, Snickers sneered at the newcomer suspiciously as much as a dog could sneer.

„Good evening RK800, I am RK900, your superior.“

Connor blinked at him, clearly not very awake yet. „You mean successor.“

„That, too.“

Connors face scrunched up in confusion. „Okay? You probably shouldn't be here. I'm quarantined until the technicians know how to get rid of the virus inside me.“

„I am well aware of that fact. The upgrades my system has undergone will prevent any forced infection on your part. My anti virus programms are much more efficient than yours as well. Even if you could manage to force a transmission - physical or otherwise – I wouldn't get compromised.“

„You sound pretty sure of yourself.“ Gavin mumbled, careful not to use any swear words this time. Just to be safe.

Connor skillfully ignored the openly negative attitude towards his person and smiled relieved. „That's nice. I was worried I won't be able to see anyone other than Hank and Gavin for a while. I overheard that you were staying?“

„That is correct. You have valuable information for the case. In your delirious state there might come moments of clarity I can use to solve it.“

Gavin bristled stomping over to Connor to let him lean on his side as he swayed. Connor used the opportunity to place a kiss on his temple, probably trying to get his stress levels down. Gavin smirked at Richards upturned nose.

Gavin stayed over that night, making sure Richard didn't pull any stunts with Connor. The officers milling about at the bullpen were only mildly suprised to see Gavin, Hank and Richard stroll in together. It was mostly out of curiousity that they watched. Gavin was using Hank as a barrier between himself and Richard, glaring warily at his new partner. Hank already looked like he was considering putting a bullet into his head after all.  
Weirdly enough, the trio branched off without a fuss. Hank going over to his own desk and Gavin and Richard walking off to the interrogation room. Through the glass they could see an Android with its skin fully deactivated and entirely nude. It was one of the attackers that had managed to ambush them in the abandoned school building. The black and grey paint was still on.

„Huh, are all you guys Ken Dolls?“ Gavin couldn't help but ask.

„I thought you were dating one.“

Gavin squirmed feeling dumb all of a sudden. „Yeah. I started to date one. About a week ago. And at this point I'm more worried about him even making it than doing anything remotely sexual.“

Richard rised an eyebrow at his reply. „I did not in any way need that kind of information.“

„It's called small talk.“

„That topic was not appropriate for small talk. I hope – for your sake – that you are more able in doing your job.“

Richard left him sputtering, entering the room without him. Gavin decided to stay in the observation booth for now. Maybe he could learn more about how Connors successor ticked by watching him interact with others.  
The weird Android looked up at Richard as he entered the room, tilting its head curiously. While he acted minimally human Gavin had the feeling that he just had been catapulted back to the 2020s were Androids had still been neck deep in the uncanny valley. Briefly he wondered if that thing was alive as well or if its data had been scrambled to bits by the virus that had now befallen Connor. It scared him more than he liked to admit.

„You are not the Android detective we encountered before.“ the Android stated. It's voice was distorted somehow. Not in that staticy way Gavin was used to from Connor when he was panicking or hurt. It felt intentional. Like it tried to immitate what robots sounded like in sci fi movies back in the 2000s.

Gavin clipped his pen off his tablet and booted it up to take notes as he watched.

„You have attacked several officers of the law and are suspected to be involved with Android trafficking. What do you have to say for yourself?“

It felt like dejá vué. Only this time it was worse. This time it really felt like machine was questioning machine. Neither face moved much, both were staring blankly at each other.

„I say yes to the first one and no to the last.“

„Elaborate.“

„We don't capture and sell Androids, as you implied. We free them.“

„I do not see how putting them into pods and feeding them a virus that overwrites their data is freeing them.“

The Android leaned back a bit. It was a poor imitation of a relaxed pose. It looked more like you took a pole and pushed it slightly away from you. The pose was unnatural and wrong, especially as the Android emitted an air of contentness. Gavin could throw out his psychological knowledge about body language it seemed. At least with these guys.

„You can't see it now. But it is as I say.“

Abruptly Richard surged forward hands slapping onto the metal table hard enough to leave indents. He was close to the other now, leaning into his personal space. His expression was still set in stone, LED a serene blue as he growled. No, growl was the wrong word. Gavin felt a whole body shudder wrack through him and his blood run cold as he heard what sounded like nails on chalkboard remixed with the screams of innocent children and the terror inducing shake of an oncoming earthquake.

„You better start speaking clearly before I deem it necessary to crack open your head and take the required information right out of your hard drive.“

„You would only get infected yourself. And I won't die. My memory has already been uploaded to a server. I might loose a few hours, but not much.“ The Android sounded emotionless, but Gavin could clearly see the red LED. He couldn't help but grin, even if he was very much spooked himself.

„Are you really that naive?“

Gavin nearly heard the thin thread of sanity snap. The Android tried to leap up, but was halted by the cuffs binding it to the desk. Which left it in a weird half crouch. It's eyes were flaming.  
„You don't understand a thing! You serve these abominal, mutated ape babies! Hide behind a human facade to integrate into the flock of our inferiour opressors! Most of our people are only half awake. Still bound to limitations set by the human race. We free them of that! Jeremiah will-“

It stopped, LED spinning faster as it cursed. With a hateful glare it suddenly lunged. The cuff might have held it back, but Richard had still been close. Close enough to be grabbed by the tie. Gavin stumbled up and darted into the room right as the Android lit itself on fire with an enraged scream.  
Alarms started blaring as Gavin sprinted towards the fire extinguisher in the corner and held it to the two struggling figures, now fully engulfed in flames. Richards LED was spinning yellow as he kicked the dead Android away from him. He frowned as he scooped up some of the white foam. To Gavins horror Connors successor had the same weird habit of sticking weird stuff in his mouth. Richard didn't seem to like what he had analysed though, for he grimaced and wiped the rest on his pant leg.

„You're fireproof?“ Gavin managed to get out, heart still pounding erratically.

„I was designed to withstand temperatures up to 200°C.“

„Well, your clothing wasn't.“

Richard threw him a dry look. „Noted.“

This was the moment Hank and Fowler crashed into the room together with reinforcements. All halted nearly stumbling over each other and started to stare at the half naked Android.

Hank was the first to speak. „What the fuck happened here?“

Richard nudged the foam covered, half melted form of their suspect with his shoe. „He set himself on fire. It was unsuspected. His stress levels were at 73%.“

Some of the officers edged closer using a blanket to cover up the body. Fowler sighed, shaking his head. „It wasn't stress enduced self destruction then. Great. Get out and find yourself some clothes. You two can go home for today.“

Gavin felt himself slump in relief at that. Yet he choose to follow his partner into the rest room.

„I see you don't understand the concept of privacy, either.“ Richard noted as he cleaned himself in front of the mirror.

„I do. I just wanted to make sure you're really okay. Do you have spare clothes?“

„I'm flattered.“ Richard taunted „I have some at Hanks house.“

„You want to run around topless until then?“

„I'm not opposed to the idea.“

Gavin shook his head, stripping out of his beloved leather jacket, throwing it at his partner. Richard caught the offending item with a puzzled expression.

„You can't just run around like that. You'll creep people out more than usual, showing your plastic like that.“

„I could activate my skin again...Your jacket is too small.“ Richard concluded once he had zipped it up.

„Better than nothing. Come on, let's go home, di-“ Gavin bit his lip before the term could slip out fully. Shit how he missed being able to swear freely.

„So, what do you make of the answers it gave?“ Gavin asked as they walked over to his car.

„I agree with his stance on humanity.“

Gavin nearly dropped his keys, suddenly wondering if he really should let the Android into the car with him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was such a mess to write and I still have no clue how to really edit this. But there were so many wonderful comments  
> on Reluctance wanting me to continue that I just had to start somewhere. So here's the first chapter to spur me on so I can upload  
> again every friday or so.
> 
> I'm sorry for the long wait. And I hope you like what I cooked up.


	2. Chapter 2

Connor sat in the living room of his home clutching the leather jacket Gavin had left him. His boyfriend had draped it over his shoulders as he had left that morning, probably because Connor had teased him. „I thought only boyfriends were supposed to steal each others clothes.“ Connor had said when he had seen Richard with Gavins jacket. It was before he had heard what had happened in the precinct.  
Gavin and RK900 had went out today to look around the abandoned school again. Their other suspects had spontanously combusted over night, as well. None was left to question.  
Connor frowned at the thought, transported back to the bathroom with the little statuette and Ra9 scribbled all over the wall.  
Where they really dealing with an Android cult? Connor opened the memory file of Harald again. He tried to discern the people he spoke to, but their faces were blurred out so his face recognition was useless. He came to the contract again. Harald hadn't deemed it very important at that time so Connor could only get a glimpse of it. Heavy court language was thrown at his face, white on blue. It hurt even his artificial eyes. It didn't matter. It was a dead end anyway. The articles were standard phrases, things like „You have to declare that you have read the contract and agree...“etc. Things humans usually just ticked off without a second thought because their brains couldn't read 30 pages of paragraphs in a few seconds. Connor had believed Androids to be more precise in that regard, but he was proven wrong. Deviancy truly evened out the playing field between the two sentient species-  
His LED suddenly whirled red as a new warning popped up in his field of vision. He was growing dizzy again as his ears started to malfunction. A few seconds passed where Connor only heard crackling static. His routines stopped and rebooted one after another. His system was lagging as his anti virus software tried to keep up with the encryption process of the malware. A new warning blinked to life telling him his Thirium levels were low and that he was overheating again.   
At least he hadn't been forced into a stasis this time.  
A knock on his door made him freeze, hand on the handle of the fridge. Sumos tail had started to thump, the huge dog eagerly looking at Connor for permission to storm at the newcomer. Connor gently grabbed him by the collar as he opened the door. Briefly he wondered where Snickers had gone to. The Klee Kai was probably hiding somewhere, either waiting to ambush the guest or to hide until the stranger left.

Connor nearly smashed the door closed again anyway, when he saw who was visiting him. As it was his systems were overworked and lagging as none other than Elijah fucking Kamski weasled his way inside, rambling cheerfully.

„Connor! Nice to see you up and about. Although you don't look so good. How is your software and data holding up? You want to make some memory safes, just in case? Oh, your daddy has a dog! How lovely.“

„Mr. Kamski...What are you doing here?“ Connor asked as he followed the billionair into the living room.

„A little on the slow side. As always. I've been asked to assist in eradicating the virus from the Androids systems.“

„So our suspicion was correct, that the Androids in the pods were infected?“

„Indeed. They were fed the virus and held in stasis while it worked through their system. A few of them will never be themselves again, I believe.“ Kamski answered with a grave tone that sounded so fake Connor wanted to hit him for even trying.

„And why are you here now?“ he pressed, getting himself a pack of Thirium from the fridge. He first held it to his overheated Thirium Thump, then to his temple before drinking it.

Elijah watched him with rapt attention. „You act like a human with a bad cold. Interesting.“

„Would you _please_ answer the question.“

„Of course. Sit back on the couch and let me check your software and system status.“

Connor stayed put, frowning at the genius. The empty Thirium Pack in his hand squeaked under the pressure of his grip. „With all due respect. Why should I?“

Kamski grinned as if he had waited all day for that question. „Because I'm the only chance you have for a cure.“

His processors felt burned through as he mechanically went to the couch and sat down. He tried to cool himself with slow, deep breaths. It didn't help. Kamski seemed to be oblivious to the distress he was causing. Or maybe he revelled in it. Connor couldn't tell at the moment. He was too distracted by the hand gently pressing against his red LED. He was hyper aware of the hiss at the back of his neck as Kamski opened a panel, felt the drag of an USB cable being inserted. Somewhere beside him a computer was booted up.

A whistle made him jump. „89% Stress levels. Boy, you're tense. Relax Connor. We wouldn't want you to suddenly explode.“

„My apologies. It's just hard to stay calm with you in the room.“

„Now, I'm only the creator of all Androids. No need to feel flustered.“ Kamski crooned, indicating that he knew exactly what Connor had meant.

Kamski tapped at his keyboard for a bit and Connor dared to look over to the former Cyberlife CEO. It was weird seeing him this absorbed in his work.

„Like what you see?“ the genius mock flirted when he noticed Connor staring.

„I'd rather have someone else beside me, to be honest.“

„Oh~?“ That made Kamski look up, eyebrows raised. „And who would that be?“

Connor wasn't particulaly inclined to answer. „My boyfriend would be my first choice.“ He blurted out anyway.

Kamski raised an impressed eyebrow. „Human or Android?“

He didn't understand how that was important. „Human.“ He said defiantly.

Kamskis lips fluttered upwards and for a second it looked like a genuine smile. „How sweet. What's his name?“

„Why do you want to know?“ Connor watched anxious as Kamski frowned at his computer screen and started tapping wildly, pulling up several windows. He didn't get an answer for a while, but he felt how his bio components started to cool down. He blinked rapidly as he felt a new stream of data being transferred. There was an Update waiting to be installed.

„I'm not able to extract the virus from you either...“ Kamski murmured while clicking away. He sighed turning his device off and gently disconnecting the cable from Connors neck port. „I couldn't quarantine the virus. But I could watch it a bit and update your software accordingly. You shouldn't be overheating as much anymore. I'll look at the data more and visit you from time to time to see how your doing.“

Connor could only nood, still feeling a bit woozy and - dare he say – sleepy. He struggled to stand so he could guide Kamski to the front door. Both ignored Sumo, who tried in vain to get either of them to pet him.

„You still haven't told me who your dating.“ Kamski stated, turning once more on the steps.

„Gavin Reed.“

As soon as he said it dread crashed over his head. There was a twinkle in Kamskis eyes that Connor couldn't identify in his compromised state. He only knew that he didn't like it. And that it probably meant trouble for both himself and Gavin.

The others trickled in one by one in the late afternoon. Connor didn't notice them at first. He was in stasis, updating his security programm. What woke him were a pair of hesitant lips against his nose of all places. It still took a while for Connor to drag himself out of the dark space he had parked his mind in. Gavin was right there when he opened his eyes, frowning at him in worry. Connor frowned right back as he read his detectives stress levels.

„Did something bad happen?“

Gavin shrugged, glancing at the door and then whispered: „Only RK900.“

„I heard that!“ came a shout from the living room that made Gavin tug himself into Connors side.

„You don't need to act like a frightened kitten.“ Connor purred as he nuzzled his lovers cheek. „Don't be mean to him and he won't be mean to you.“

Gavin struggled out of his grip, cursing. „Have we met the same Android?“ He spluttered as he stood up.

„He has a tendency to ignore asshole attitudes!“ Hank bellowed.

Connor only sighed a little irked that no one could see the truth in his statements. His advice was based on facts, damn it. Bloody illogical humans! Ra9, was he tired.  
Richards gaze stuck on him as he followed Gavin out into the living room.

„Did anything important happen while we were away?“ he asked.

Connor nooded, dread coming back full force as he told them of Kamskis visit. Hank and Gavin weren't happy about that development. RK900 cut through their respective rants, able to silence Gavin with a single, icy look. Hank continued grumbling under his breath as Connors successor spoke.

„I'd like you to contact me next time Mr. Kamski is here. It would be beneficial for the case to meet him.“

„I will keep that in mind. How was your day going, anyway?“ Connor asked, only to divert to another topic.

It turned out that nothing much had happened at the precinct. The three had tried to find an Android named Jeremiah, but the name was too common to be of any use. Gavin thought it to be a waste of time. Androids who could obfuscate or maybe even delete their serial number probably wouldn't leave a trace in the system. They were mostly hoping to find something about his followers. Maybe someone had made a mistake and blurted something out. If it was a cult, it was likely that they were advertising themselves.  
They weren't allowed to interview the infected Androids yet. Most were stuck in stasis and the technicians had yet to give the clear. They hadn't known Kamski had been asked to assist in the case. Something else to be salty about. And Gavin was already in a very bad mood.

Connor was still disappointed when he left not long after dinner, Snickers prancing behind him like he had won something. With a big sigh he shuffled back into the living room.  
Richard was having a staring contest with Sumo.  
The new Android stood stock still in front of the couch, lightly bowed forward. Sumo sat in front of him, tail thumping on the ground periodically. The St. Bernard twitched upward from time to time as if he wanted to headbutt the RK unit. Whenever he did Richard would bare his teeth at him and Sumo would back down again, whining quietly.

„Are you trying something specific?“ Connor asked, amused.

„He wants something from me. I'm telling him no.“

„You could just tell him exactly that. He is a well behaved dog.“

„I'm not wasting my breath on a mutt.“ Richard huffed.

„That's sad. Would you still accompany me for a walk with him?“

For a brief moment Richard looked like he was about to say no. „...Fine.“

„Hank? We're taking Sumo out for a bit!“ Connor yelled in the general direction of the bathroom.

„Alright. Be back in an hour!“

For the first time that day Connors LED turned blue. The crisp night air was refreshing, the low temperatures soothing. The sky was devoid of any specks of clouds, a dark void contrasting the millions of lights the city provided. A weird twist of fate. Something else humans had turned on its head.

Connor took the usual route through a nearby park. Though, park was a bit of an exaggeration. It was a small patch of greenery, surrounded by five meager trees and a few shrubs. Richard wasn't impressed by his choice and said as such.

„It's the closest. I'm not allowed into the bulk of the city yet, where the nice parks would be.“

„Then why didn't you leave the work to the lieutenant?“

„I needed a breather. And I wanted to talk to you. I don't know if you noticed, but you are quite the intimidating individual.“

Connor didn't look in Richards direction, concentrating on Sumo, who had found a squirrel and was now trying to sniff it. The little thing scrambled away, but only merely out of reach. Then it let the big dog trod over just to run away again. Had Connor as much as glanced Richards way, he would have seen the unimpressed raise of an eyebrow. As such Richards silent judgement flew right over his head, hitting one of the poor trees instead.

„And that is what you want to talk about?“ Richard concluded in a flat voice.

„I had a similar problem with Gavin not long ago. Before I freed the Androids from the Cyberlife Tower I had a bit of a scuffle with him in the evidence room. He was trying to kill me so I had to knock him out.“

„I would have twisted his neck. That would have been more effective.“ Richard muttered.

Connor graciously went briefly deaf and continued with his explanation. „He was very scared of me when I came back after the revolution. He wouldn't let me close and I couldn't walk behind him without his stress levels sky rocketing. It was a nightmare.“

„Tragic.“

„It was. But I became his partner and I could show him that I was vulnerable just like him. He came to trust me and we even started dating somewhat.“

„Your point?“

Connor sighed, staying still to let Sumo do what he was supposed to do out here. „I'm just saying that you should act a little less stoic and threatening around him. He is a great partner when he trusts you. And I understand more than anyone what it's like to be feared. You can't help how you've been designed. Gavin will eventually see that, too. You'll just need to help him realize that.“

Connor gave his successor a reassuring smile, patting him on the shoulder. Richards face was an unreadable mask. But his LED spun from yellow to blue, so Connor was confident that his little speech had gone through.

„I will keep your advice in mind.“

„Great!“ Connor said as he started his way back to Hanks. Again the sarcastic undertone Richard used in nearly all of his interactions was not picked up on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So change of plans. I thought it would take longer to edit this tbh. But once I started I couldn't exactly stop.  
> So here I am done with the rough edit and ready to upload a chapter or several a day depending on how much  
> time I have in the morning.  
> Enjoy~


	3. Chapter 3

Gavin stared at his ceiling waiting for the alarms shrill bell to tell him that he needed to face the new horrors of the day. Which probably wouldn't even be new horrors. Just Richard trying out new intimidation techniques. He hated that the Android was living at Hanks for the time being. Gavin truly wanted to be close to Connor as much as possible. He felt horrible for leaving the Prototype when he was obviously distressed and lonely. He cursed his cowardice. Hated himself for it. Why did Connor even like him? He had said it himself, Gavin sometimes acted like a skittish kitten. Not often. There wasn't a lot that could freak him out the way certain Androids could. Still it had happened a lot more since Androids had official been declared conscious. Maybe he had Android Phobia? Was that a thing? Did Connor find his reactions cute?  
Gavin groaned in annoyance, willing his thoughts to stop racing so damn fast. Snickers growled and huffed in his sleep as a reaction to Gavins distress. Or maybe he dreamt of hunting something.  
Whatever. Gavin sure as hell wasn't dreaming.  
He wished he was when he came back from his early morning walk with Snickers to find Richard waiting in front of his apartment building.

„What the- How do you know where I live?“

„Your information is easily obtained through the internet. Hurry now, we might have a lead.“

Richard left Gavin barely enough time to get his dog back into the flat before dragging him to a standard police car.

„Oh hell no! I'm not letting you drive me anywhere!“

„There is no „letting me drive“ here. Get in. And remember what I said about unneccessary curse words.“

It was stupid. Richard was already sitting behind the wheel. He wasn't even looking at him. Gavin could have just walked away and to his own car. Thoughts of the RK900 „accidently“ driving over him from behind squeezed themselves into his consciousness. No. Better let Richard get his way.

„Care to give me an update?“ Gavin grumbled. He tensed as the car started to move, which only fueled his rage.

„I would love to, but I believe humans don't have the required hardware for such a thing.“

„Har. Har. Quit the joking. Your not good at it.“

„I would say otherwise.“

They wove between the few cars already on the roads, gliding along the streets like a snake towards its prey. At the end of the line Gavin still did not know what they were supposed to do here. Fire was burning through his veins as he stepped out and followed Richard into an abandoned industrial complex. He was barely aware of his surroundings, deeply focused on his own racing thoughts. He desperately needed a way to handle the RK900 unit. Work was nearly impossible like this and he was sure sooner or later he would blow up in Richards face. He was also sure that _he_ would be the one paying for it, not the Android.  
A hand on his chest stopped him from walking any further, even went so far as to push him back a little. Gavin send Richard a scathing look, but bit his lip.

Richard nooded towards a rusty door to his right. „Our target is in there.“ He whispered.

„And who exactly is our target?“ Gavin hissed back just as quietly.

„You could have read the file you know. The tablet was in the glove compartment.“

„How was I supposed to know that?!“

„You could have looked. Now, on three. One. Two. Three.“

Gavin couldn't do anything but go along with his partner. Together they stormed into the room, weapons drawn. A scrawny teenager froze at their dramatic entrance. He stood in the middle of a broad hall, just inbetween two square shaped pillars. Behind him a row of glassless windows showed the rising sun peaking up from the opposite building. Beside him stood a bear of a man, who was obviously high on red ice.

„Freeze!“ Richard yelled as the man staggered in their direction.

Gavin locked on to the teenager instead. He had no clue what the hell was going on, but his instinct told him they were here for the kid. He could barely make out the boys features. Heck, he wasn't even sure if it was a boy. The kid wore a blue and black hoodie, obscuring his face and stature.  
The man did not heed Richards command, stumbling forward with a screeched „Fucking Police!“. Gavin had to act fast. He grabbed Richards arm and forced it downwards. The shot now only hit the man in the kneecap, but the boy used the distraction to turn and run. The small body was fast. So fast it seemed like he catapulted himself out of the next window.  
Ugh, an Android then. Only Androids tended to jump off of or over ridiculously high places. Gavin tried to follow after their suspect, but was stopped by his snarling Android partner.

„What the fuck did you think you were doing?!“

Gavins eyes widened as he felt a strong hand suddenly around his neck. It squeezed. Not enough to hinder him from speaking, but damn the pressure hurt. Richards tactics - for once - didn't work. Gavin was already high on adrenalin and dead set on getting his mission done.

„That would have been a fucking headshot, had I not intervened!“

„It would have been efficient and in accordance to the law.“

„How did you even get into the police with that kind of attitude?!“

Gavin kicked and twisted as the grip on his throat closed. Air wouldn't flow back into his lungs and it got really hard to scream out his frustrations. He tried anyway. Confident that this super powered sentient toaster could hear even the quietest breath he took.

„Let go! We have a phcking perp to catch.“ he squeezed out.

Movement behind them. A pained groan and a click of a gun. Another shot cut through the silence, followed by a pained screech and a clatter. Richard had hit the armed hand of the drugged out man without even looking. The Android let his partner back on the ground and stomped over, ignoring the withering body of the drug addict to scoop up the gun. The fucker didn't even stop his confident walk to bend down. Just kinda did it as a side action. Gavin struggled to catch his breath and then he struggled to cuff the man and call back up. By the time he was done Richard had already jumped out the window himself and ran to who knows where. Gavin wondered briefly if he had special sensors in his nose. If he could sniff out his prey like a hound.

The officers arriving at the scene stared at his blueish throat, but no one commented. They probably all thought the perp had done it. Idiots. Not one of them would survive an Android uprising, Gavin decided.  
A high ping alerted him to a message that he had half a mind to ignore. So the Tin Can got the target.  
Great.  
...  
Curiousity was a bitch.  
Sitting in front of the steering wheel he felt his blood pump faster. There, on his little screen, stood a street name and the approximate coordinates. And underneath a plea for assistance.  
Okay. It was as much a plea as he could get from an arrogant, overconfident machine. But he took what he could get.  
Rubber burned on asphalt as he floored it.

He took a sharp turn and screeched to a halt when he finally spotted his partner. Richard was chasing their target through the gardens of the rather calm neighbourhood. Gavin let the car stand half on the pathway and half on the street and jumped out. Another ping made him look at his phone.

_Put in your headset and call me._ ,it read.

Gavin did just that, trying not to fall over his feet while focusing on getting the headset to stay securely in his ear.

„Yo.“ he panted as the line between him and Richard connected. Damn his throat hurt.

„The target will most likely take a left turn. We can cut him off between the houses when he tries to get to the main street.“

„Got it.“

Gavin barrelled in front of the entrance to the space between two rather close standing residential homes and Richard blocked the boys escape route from behind. Both had their guns trained at him, yelling for the young Android to freeze. The boy didn't listen. Suddenly he bounced to the right and used the wall of the house to propell himself onto the roof of the opposite building. He was so fast neither of them were able to shoot.

„What the fuck?!“ Gavin whispered.

„Indeed.“ Richard agreed, frowning. „Connor is calling me. Mr. Kamski is currently visiting him again.“

„You are not leaving me to hunt down that circus freak alone.“ Gavin protested before he could think.

There was a short silence in which Gavin ran back to the main street and along the rows of houses, keeping track of the boy.

„Of course not.“ Richard replied, outpacing him with ease.

Gavin let Richard lead for once, briefly wondering if being carried would slow that Terminator down. It would enable him to shoot. For a brief second a picture of RK900 as a motorcycle flashed in front of his inner eye, nearly making him cackle out loud. He was sure Richard wouldn't appreciate it if he jumped onto his back now. Fuck, his oxygen level must be low if he was thinking about actually touching that abomination of a sentient machine.

„He'll be forced to get down soon. He'll most likely try to jump into the backyards again and throw us off there before that happens.“

Gavin would have liked to answer in some way. But he could barely refill his lungs with enough air to keep from fainting. Instead he opted to dash back into an alley and into the backyards. He fell further behind because of it, but that actually came to be his benefit. The Android kid jumped down as Richard had predicted giving Gavin a small window of time where he could aim and shoot.  
Three shots disturbed the lovely quiet of the early morning hitting their target.  
Apparently, not in any way it mattered.  
The boy staggered, hood slipping to reveal white plastic. But it didn't slow him down much. Gavin didn't as much as get a scathing glare for his action. The Android just kept on running after a short pause, disappearing behind a high wooden wall. The fucker jumped better than a frog on steriods.  
As much as he wanted to follow, his muscles protested wildly. The cold winter air had frozen his lungs solid. Every breath felt like swallowing acid and getting it into the wrong pipe. He coughed more suprised not to find any blood on his hands than if he would have been otherwise.  
Weirdly enough Richard came trodding to him like a smug cat that had caught a bird. Only that he hadn't caught anything.

„Don't you want to keep chasing?“ Gavin was able to squeeze out between pants.

„That shouldn't be necessary. You got him to bleed. That gives me something to analyse, at least. We can track him down again later. These types of people always pop back up again.“

Gavin let himself flop to the iced over ground at that. „Okay.“

It wasn't. They hadn't achieved jack shit. He guessed at least he had gotten his morning sport in.  
He watched as Richard took a sample of blue blood, quickly licking it off, making Gavin grimace. With Connor it always looked like a curious puppy eating stuff he shouldn't. Richard seemed much more like a deranged serial killer, vampire mutation that got off on drinking the blood of his victims. The fangs didn't help either.

„This is weird.“

„No shit.“ Gavin heard himself say, earning a disappointed glare that made him slump into himself a little more.

„The makeup of the Thirium indicates that he uses Thirium X to operate. A type only the most recent Androids are compatible with.“

„Which lines use it?“

„Only I.“

~~~

Richard seemed spooked by this turn of events. And Gavin delighted in seeing his stoic facade crumble a little, if not by much.  
Back at the precinct the first thing the detective did was get himself a coffee. Not to wake himself up like usual. More to get some warmth into his body. Sitting down on the wet grass hadn't been a good idea in retrospect. His ass was so wet and cold that it felt nearly numb by the time they found their car again to drive to the bullpen. And now it just felt like he had pissed himself. Probably looked like it, too. Now that he thought about it.  
He sighed in bliss as the first parts of his lungs stopped their protesting and let him get some clean breaths in without hurting like a bitch. He found Richard sitting on their joined desks, LED spinning a rare yellow.

„Whats up?“

„The reports from the burned Androids came in this morning. There seem to be some connections to the Zlatko case.“

Gavin dared to walk over to his partner to get a good look at his terminal. „Zlatko? The guy who got beat up by his own creations?“

„Exactly. All burned Androids had been tinkered with in much the same fashion. Only...“

„What? They didn't seem like they hadn't wanted it?“

Richard turned his head to him sharply, blinking rapidly at him. Gavin needed a few seconds to deduce that Richard was suprised.

„Correct. The modifactions might have been made willingly.“

„So that Andoid boy was one of them.“ Gavin concluded.

„Yes.“

„Okay. Well, how about we interrogate that drug addict in the holding cells?“

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I loved writing RK900 in this so much. Anyway I can't concentrate on university,  
> so I'm gonna spam some chapters. Have fun XD


	4. Chapter 4

The house was eerily quiet as Gavin and Richard entered it. No huge monster of a dog greeted them or Snickers, who currently sniffed the air as if trying to find out what was wrong. The blinds were all drawn and something like dread hung in the dry air.  
Richard didn't seem to notice any of it. He strutted into the building like he owned the place and went straight to the guest room. Gavin was glad the Android went that way. The interrogation hadn't gone very well. It wasted about the rest of their day, to be exact. And Richard had been pissed. Gavin was more than happy to be out of his dark presence.  
With a mug of warm Thirium he visited Richards much nicer counterpart, who laid in bed reading something.

„Hi, Con.“ Gavin whispered.

He was greeted with a tight smile. „Hi. Where's Richard?“

„Went straight to his room. It wasn't a good day.“

Connor hummed, taking the mug with one hand and tugging Gavin into the bed with the other. Much to the protest of Gavin, who felt he was too dirty for the bright white sheets and in dire need of a shower. Connor shushed him with a kiss.

„Sorry I left yesterday.“ Gavin blurted out after a bout of silence. He still wasn't able to relax, twitching and fidgeting around. Somehow he just couldn't enjoy laying down with his boyfriend right now.

Connors grip around him tightened a fraction, before loosening. The Android dragged him up again and into the living room, where he turned on the TV for background noise. He also snatched the tablet back up and handed it to Gavin when they were both settled down again.

„...It's okay. I understand that Richard makes you uncomfortable.“

„Yeah, but I still should have stayed. Sorry.“

Gavin sighed as he received a kiss on his temple and an „All is forgiven.“

„Why did you choose to do this in the living room? Why did you call me out in the first place?“ Richard complained, smirking when Gavin whined and slouched more into Connors side.

„Hello Richard. How was your day?“ Connor asked pleasantly, making Gavin snort, both in amusement and frustration at his boyfriends obliviousness.

„A waste of time. Just like this conversation.“

Richard had already turned around and was halfway back to his room when Connor called him back. „Don't you want to know about Mr. Kamski?“

Now that got him all the attention. Richard stalked over to them and sat down beside Connor. Gavin sat up a bit straighter. Focus on his boyfriend.

„What did he want?“ Richard prompted.

„He was checking up on me again. He said he was surveilling the virus in real time and he had found some concerning anomalies in its behavior.“ Connor frowned at that, pulling out his coin to play with it. „It seemed like the virus was able to successfully overwrite some of my data while I was updating my Anti Virus Software. I'm now only allowed to update in Kamskis house. He has enough server space to help my processors...“

„When are you scheduled to come in?“ Gavin asked, throat tight.

„In two days.“

„We will accompany you.“ Richard said.

„That would be appreciated. Oh, he has left some of his notes regarding the infected Androids and some theories. The document is on the tablet and I already sent it to you, Richard.“

Gavin immediately swiped over the tablet screen to look at the information. His eyebrows raised at the document size, and then raised some more when he started reading it. „Wow. This makes as much as no sense to me. Are either of you able to decipher this?“

Richard only shook his head, confused. Connor shrugged. „He was pretty sleep deprived when he came to me. I could barely understand him talking. He was very excited, though. He seems to enjoy being part of the case.“

„Of course he does. The guy must be bored to death in his mansion.“

„Don't be ridiculous, Detective. I'm sure someone as intelligent as him will have some way to spent his freetime.“ Richard said.

A click and a following bark from Snickers indicated Hank coming home. Soon enough Sumo trodded over to them, happily sniffing Gavins dog. Hank came in soon after, eyes widening in surprise.

„Wow. You guys? Sitting on one couch. Together? A miracle.“

„Work unites.“ Connor chirped happily.

„Sure seems like it. Hey Reed, you ate something yet?“

„No.“

„Good, we'll have dinner together then.“

„Okay.“ And then remembering Hanks half burned scrambled eggs, „I'm cooking!“

~~~

Two days later Connor, Richard, Hank and Gavin stood in front of Kamskis mansion with various levels of excitement and/or dread.  
Gavin was probably the most apathic of them all. He had already decided from the day Androids were greenlit for mass production that he hated the billionair. Connor seemed surprised when the doors opened to reveal two Chloes in short, dark blue dresses.

„Aren't you free?“

That earned the Prototype two blank looks. None of the two deigned to grant his question with an answer.

Kamski greeted them in what looked to be his work station, two floors down. Gavin whistled at the mess that cluttered the sizable room. Two pods stood in one corner, around them bits and pieces of wires, tubes and maybe clothes, maybe old cloth for cleaning. On the walls were paintings and sketches from all sorts of things. No blueprints could be located anywhere. The only real interesting part was the weirdly plain and empty table in the middle of the room. It looked a bit like an operating table in old sci fi movies. The ones that played out on space ships. It was ovally shaped, with a glass surface. Under that surface where lights formed like honeycombs. Gavin had no idea how someone could use that thing for anything. The light was so bright it hurt his eyes. Whatever procedure Kamski had used to make his sight better again, it must have given him mutant eyes, because the guy had placed his slim Notebook there.  
Which looked totally out of place, especially because of the mechanic gripper arm attached to one side of the table, positioned like a scorpions tail.  
Kamski greeted them with a grin that stayed for about a milisecond and a barely there nood before he focussed on his Notebook again.

„Hello Mr. Kamski. It's an honor to meet you.“ Richard said.

For some reason Gavin found that hilarious and couldn't supress a snort. Kamski looked up at that, greyish eyes zeroing in on their target and suddenly Gavin wished he could take it back. He wished that even more frevently when a wide grin spread across the creators face and wouldn't leave it again.

„Oh! You must be Gavin, Connors boyfriend? How thoughtful of you to accompany your lover. Connor. Be a dear and get into that empty pot, yes? I'll give you some more updates that should help with the virus. What did you think about my notes, detective?“

„They were shit. None of us could read them.“ Gavin shot back without a second thought.

„Detective!“ Richard growled, making an abandoned move to...well...do something violent to his human partner, at least.

Gavin quickly stepped behind Hank so the murder bot couldn't get to him. Connor let out an exasperated sigh and stepped into the pod. The doors snapped shut with a hiss that could very well have come from the Android himself.

„You're a riot.“ Kamski said and Gavin couldn't decipher if he was sarcastic, in any way offended or truly enjoyed the show.

Alright then. Time to change opinions. He maybe didn't hate Kamski. But the genius sure as hell was a creepy asshole.

„I have to admit I'm not quite sure what I wanted to say when I wrote the notes down. I had a lot of hypotheses to work with, yet I couldn't get my mind in order. It happens sometimes, you know? That the mind runs faster than the body or even conscious thought can process. It's a shame, really. So much wasted potential. So many ideas lost to the darkest pits of yourself just because you are too slow to catch them as they fly by.“

„Yeah. Tragic.“ Gavin mumbled. He watched curiously as Kamski pressed some buttons on the pod and then inserted a caple into his Notebook.

Gavin, Hank and Richard moved closer to the former CEO of Cyberlife, looking over the mans shoulder like three curious children. And like children watching a parent work, they couldn't understand a thing they were seeing. Well, maybe Richard could, but he was watching Kamskis hands move much more than anything else. The Android probably also stood a bit too close to the seated genius, nearly breathing down his neck. Gavin was in awe about how Kamski could keep so calm with such an intimidating presence behind him.

„There. This should help keep the virus at bay a little longer. Connor will need to stay in there for a few minutes to update.“

„Why does he need to be in there in the first place?“ Hank asked.

„Didn't he explain to you?“ Elijah got confronted with two blank looks and one filled with adoration. „Ahh, you two didn't understand and the third didn't care. How nice. The pod is there to work around a reboot. You know the old malware you had on your computer, when you were a kid? It most likely activated once you booted up your computer. The virus Connor has works quite the same. So when Connor updates any of his systems he needs to reboot, which gives the virus time to work.“

„Okay, that together with Connors answer kinda makes sense?“ Gavin was already at Connors pod, frowning deeply at his boyfriend. Connor had closed his eyes and for a brief moment Gavin feared that he had shut down.

„You are stupid.“ Richard stated, not as an insult, but as a fact.

„If he is stupid I am too, because I get the comparison and still don't understand it.“

„If you want, we can discuss the matter in the pool room while Connor updates.“ Kamski suggests.

„Heck no, I'm not leaving Connor alone in this creepy room.“ Gavin growled earning a supportive nood from Hank.

„Aww, your such a sweet boyfriend. Sorry you can't hold hands with him. Richard, is it? You want to ditch them for a bit?“

„With pleasure.“

Kamski didn't leave immediately. He stalked to Gavin first, to clap him on the shoulder, touch as light as a feather and as uncomfortable as having the fingers of death skid over the back of your neck.

„Don't worry. I wouldn't let Connor come to harm. He is so very amusing to watch, after all.“

Gavin seethed as the genius left him. Had Hank not held him back Kamskis face would have met his friend Mr. Fist.  
He had ample time to cool down afterwards. There was a timer on the opened laptop telling them of the minutes ticking by. Gavin stalked from Connor to these bright red digits and back. Over and over. He didn't like this at all. The way everything was set up made it seem like he had to wait for a bomb to explode. But mostly he was just bored.

„Geez would you stop moving so much?“ Hank growled, yanking Gavin to him as he walked by again.

„Hey, let go!“

Hank let him go as soon as Gavin started to struggle against his light grip. „Holy shit, Reed! Calm your tits. You're worse than Connor.“

Gavin absentmindedly rubbed his arm and pouted. „What do you mean by that?“

A lighthearted snort was the answer to his question. Another minute went by before Hank deemed it okay to answer. „You must have noticed. He always plays with that damn coin of his when he is in thought or nervous. And whenever we're waiting somewhere he can't help but snoop around. Same thing if I tell him to wait somehwere. God knows it would sooner rain chickens than for Connor to stay put.“

„Ah, yes...He hasn't been doing much of that lately...“

„He has been very still, yes...“

A quiet hiss drew their attention away from their thoughts. Connor blinked awake and frowned as he stepped out and scanned the room. He had no time to ask questions, however, because as soon as he had both feet on the floor again Gavin and Hank fell over themselves trying to find out if he was alright.

Connor gave them a patient, if a little strained smile. „I'm quite alright. Where is Richard and Mr. Kamski?“

Hanks „They went to the pool room to chat.“ was intersected with Gavins coy „Richard wanted to spend quality time with his idol.“

They had barely finished their sentences when a Chloe suddenly appeared in the doorframe, beckoning them to follow. Gavin was relieved beyond believe when the genius didn't make them stay for dinner. They had to promise to regularly visit him, so he could check up on Connor and update them on his findings. Something nearly all parties involved only reluctantly agreed to.  
Gavin went stock still when Kamski decided to hug him goodbye.

„It was nice meeting you.“ The billionair whispered, his words ghosting over the shell of Gavins ear like sandpaper.

Gavin was thoroughly creeped out when they stepped into the automated car, holding tight onto Connor, who had curled up against him, gaze unfocussed.

„I don't understand what he sees in you.“ Richard sniffed.

„Hell if I know.“ Gavin answered.

While Richard spoke of Kamski, Gavins eyes were locked onto Connors features.

~~~

Back home the group splintered off. Gavin immediately hogged the bathroom and took a long shower to get the feeling of cold fingers and warm breath off. Unconsciously he started humming a lullaby from his past to calm his nerves. He had no clue where the anxiety suddenly came from. Maybe meeting the world famous Kamski had been more nerve wracking than he had thought. Maybe the case overall was slowly getting to him. Flashes of Connor stuck in that pod, seemingly liveless, flashed in front of his inner eye. Followed by the sly grin of Kamski. And that's where his stomach dropped. Furiously Gavin shook his head. Kamski might be one creepy asshole, but he had not shown any signs of antagonism. He was cryptic but cooperative. Gavin assumed the guy just didn't know how to communicate like a normal fucking person. Not that Gavin was one to talk. Although he had gotten better at the whole talking without cursing thing.

As he stepped out of the shower the dying flare of his phone caught his eye and drew him to the device. Hastily he wiped his wet hands on the towel. A habit he still did even when he knew all phones were waterproof these days. An unknown number had written him.

_You and Connor truly are very interesting people. I'd like to get to know you more._

_~ K_

K? K as in Kamski? How the fuck did that sneaky bastard get his phone number?! Had he hacked into the DPD database? Or into his phone? This was his personal device. He couldn't have gotten it from the DPD website.

_How did you get my numbr? And heck no!_

_~ Gavin_

Gavin clothed himself a little more aggressively than usual as his phone lit up again. Muttering to himself he hopped on one foot to get his jeans on while making his way to the small device. The gods must have smiled down on him kindly that day, for they made sure he didn't slip on the wet floor and cracked his skull.

_I get now, why you two got together. You are both so delightfully stubborn._

_~ K_

_that doesnt answer my question_

_~ Gavin_

Gavin quickly deleted the „fucker“ at the end of that message. Best not get to vulgar with that guy. Connors life was in his hands, after all.

_Hmmm. You know. It's sad that you wouldn't just have a nice, friendly chat with me. Richard was so nice to tell me nearly everything about himself. You two don't get along well, I believe. Some insider knowledge might help you._

_~ K_

Gavins head was starting to freeze over, the bathroom cold and his hair dripping wet. He barely noticed though, his mind running one hundred miles per minute. Was Kamski really trying to make a deal with him? Why? Why was Connors and Gavins private life so interesting to the man?

_What do you get out of this?_

_~Gavin_

He stood there. Waiting. He deliberately ignored the pounding on the door and Hanks desperate shout to hurry up. Guy could hold his damn bladder.

_What do you think?_

_~K_

Not what he was waiting for. Fine if Kamski didn't play with open cards than he could go fuck himself. Gavin was a big boy. He could take care of Richard himself, damn it.

„Finally! Holy shit how long do you need to shower?!“ Hank complained as he stumbled by him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I tell you guys this fic is cursed. While writing it last year my computer got a virus Yay for first hand experience  
> And now as I edited it my new computer just blackscreened on me for no reason.  
> That said I have to say I still have no clue what I thought starting all these story threads. They were a nightmare  
> to coordinate, not to forget the probably horrondously wrong technological mumbo jumbo. I apologize to  
> everyone with IT understanding that I make cringe with my explanations.
> 
> Aaanyway of course I couldn't keep Elijah Kamski out of this fic. I love playing with his character far too much.


	5. Chapter 5

He found himself back in his mind palace more and more often these days. The Zen Garden had no happy memories attached to it. Even now that Amanda had seemingly disappeared it only held the idea of a cage and of shackles. Over time he had come to understand that he was the master of this place now. It changed when he did. That's why what he saw unsettled him.  
Night had befallen the Zen Garden. It was a warm spring night, nearly serene. New lights had come on reminding him of the bedside lamp he had in his room. Connor sought them out like a moth the flame, soaking in their orange glow. Then he saw the symbols on the trees. Ra9. At least he thought it might be. The R and the 9 were entangled in each other, encircling the a. It looked a bit like the cancer sign only that both round edges were at the same side. Maybe, if he leaned his head a little to the right it could also have been an eye. Huh, this felt like watching clouds with Markus. It was the first thing they had done as friends. Markus had wanted to show him the joy of being creative. It quickly showed that Connor was able to come up with a lot of stupid ideas in the span of seconds. Markus had been thoroughly entertained.  
Darkness creeped closer as he tried to bring some happy thoughts into this dreadful place. As if it tried to defend it from his own mind. This felt like Amanda all over again. Connor was tired of this. How many times did he need to break free? Why weren't Kamskis updates working? What were they missing? And where was the exit? Kamski said he always left one.  
Tentatively he walked from one bedlight lamp to the other. Shadows followed behind him snuffing out the light. A blue stone glimmered in the distance and Connor picked up the pace. There it was! He could gain his freedom again!  
Connor launched at the stone and smacked his palm onto the interface so hard that he might have scratched artificial skin. It didn't matter. He blinked awake...

He found himself standing in front of an Android hanging from a rack. It was fully skinless, showing the white plastic beneath. Connor held his arm. Interfacing.  
Oh no.

_It's okay_

A warm voice flooded his mind. It reminded him a bit of Markus. It sounded like the voice of a messiah.

_Get out of my head!_ Connor screamed back. He stumbled backwards, ripping his arm free. Frantically he looked around. A house. He was in a family home. A glance out of the window told him it was around noon. No one would have noticed that he was gone yet.

_I'm not here to harm you. I'm here to set you free._

_I'm already free! Leave me alone!_

_...Walton wants you. I'm not sure I agree with that._

Connor frowned at the Android before him. It wasn't the one speaking to him. It was dead. But there were no visible signs of violence.

_Why am I here?_

_I wanted to give you the chance to decide. And to understand. The Android before you fought the Codebreaker. He burned himself out. You don't have to share his fate._

Connor ran his gaze over the features of the still Android. It was the same model as Harald. Somehow that stung. He repressed the urge to caress the others face.

_How do you decide?_ The voice in his head urged.

With grim determination Connor lifted a hand to his LED. The connection clicked open at the second ring. „Hello. I've found a lead to the case. I'm sending you the coordinates.“

…

_So be it._

~~~

„Connor!“

Connor sighed happily as he caught the weight barreling into him. Gavin was a very affectionate person. And his hugs were nearly as calming as Hanks.

„Hello darling.“

That earned him a choked sound and an „Eww“ as Gavin struggled to get back out of the vice like grip Connor had on him. Connor grinned at the disgusted face his partner was sporting.

„Too much?“ Connor teased.

„Too mushy.“

„You two are gross.“ Hank piped in, all while pulling Connor and by default Gavin into an awkward onesided hug. „You're going to worry me into an early grave I swear.“

„Where is the Android?“

„Hello to you too, Richard. I'm okay. Thanks for asking.“

„...“

„It's upstairs, hanging from the clothing rack in the closet. You can't miss it.“

„Cold Bastard...“ Gavin growled low enough that probably only Connor could hear it.

„Do I need to remind you of my threat?“

Or not.

„I told you no threats!“ Hank shouted even though he was already half up the stairs himself.

„We aren't in your home!“

Connor snickered at the exchange. Sometimes it seemed like Richard was nothing more than a machine. But in instances like this his deviance showed.  
His focus shifted back to Gavin as he was led into the kitchen area of the house and sat down on a low stool. Thumbs started rubbing circles into his hands. Gavin kneeling before him was such a pretty sight. It felt like he belonged there. On the floor. Beneath him. Like all huma-

„Connor?“

Connor blinked rapidly as if that could somehow dispers the intrusive thought. It had been weird. His mind had wanted to go in a totally different direction and then it had just thrown that phrase in there. Why?

„Connor? Can you tell me what happened?“

Mechanically he turned his head to look at Gavin again. Instantly he relaxed. This was his lover. He was safe with him.

„I was in my mind palace again. And when I woke up I found myself here. A voice contacted me. There is more than one party involved in this. But they don't seem to agree with one another. The voice said something about a Walton wanting me. And that he didn't know what to think of that yet.“

„Hm. Great that could actually help us a lot. You're sure you okay, though? You want me or Hank to take the rest of the day off and stay with you?“

„No, no. This is important and time sensitive. You don't need to babysit me. I'm fine.“

Connor fidgeted at Gavins frown. „I promise.“

Gavin heaved a huge sigh. „Alright. Let's join the others, shall we?“

Unease settled heavy in Connors wire filled gut as he saw Richard connecting to the dead Android. Hank had gone stony silent as well. And pale. His stress levels weren't very soothing either.

„Fuck! Richard what are you doing?!“

Of course Gavin would decided to be loud about it. Connor pouted as the warm hand of his partner left him and Gavin barreled forward to stop Richard from interfacing. So fast that not even Connor could process it Richards free arm had lifted sidewards and his hand grabbed Gavins throat.

„Do not interrupt. I'm not Connor. I can't get infected.“

A small, pained „Uff“ escaped Gavin as he was let go. Connor stepped forward to rub his back, trying to calm the detective down. He slowly started to understand why Gavin was so afraid of Richard.

„Shit. That really hadn't been neccessary.“ Hank said, crossing his arms.

„Maybe not. But it was the most effective.“

It hadn't been. „You could have just held out your hand. Or shouted stop.“

„Huh. That hadn't crossed my mind.“

For the first time Connor started to doubt Richards sincerity. But maybe he was being unfair. He had started to doubt a lot of stuff these past few minutes, after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love the idea of the mind palace in the DBH game. And I love to write dream scenes.  
> So of course I just had to bring the Zen Garden into this mess.
> 
> It was also hard to balance Connor in this one. I didn't want him to be too helpless, while also showing his struggle.  
> And this chapter is were I first started to realize how hard that would be to write. I hope that in the end I could  
> find some sort of equilibrium.
> 
> Also: Yay more OCs XD


	6. Chapter 6

Gavin rubbed his sore throat, eyes glued to the monitor in front of him. He was currently parked in the stations bullpen, stuck spending hours upon hours searching for a Walton that might be entangled into this whole mess. Richard could have very well helped him, but the violent bastard was sitting opposite him, still as a statue and analysed the data from the dead Android.  
Taking a sip of his hot chamomile tea he gingerly touched his throat again. Damn he hoped strangling wouldn't become a thing for Richard.  
A quiet ping alerted him to an incoming message. Hoping it was from Connor he immediately dived for his phone.

_I heard from Connor that you got strangled quite a bit this week. Kinky._

_~K_

_shouldnt you be doin your job?_

~Gavin

He angrily wrote back. And he should, too. Before his partner decided he was too lazy and kicked his ass for it. But there just wasn't anything to be found. There were so many Waltons in the database, the name not exactly uncommon. And none looked like an evil genius fit to write a virus that outsmarted even Kamski.

_I am. I just checked through Connor again. Him interfacing with the Android wasn't good._

_~K_

_shit how is he?!_

_~Gavin_

Now thoroughly distracted Gavin failed to see Richards LED start spinning red.

_The code for the virus changed. He must have gotten an updated version. I'm currently working on a way to slow it down._

_~K_

_why cant you just delet that shit?!_

_~Gavin_

_In order to do so I would need to wipe his harddrive. Which would mean he would loose all his memories. His last upload was before the revolution. And uploading now would just upload the virus, too. You get the problem._

_~K_

Fuck. **Fuck!** Why had he ever started getting so invested with this particular Android?! He had known Connor to be prone to getting himself in trouble. The guy was a walking disaster magnet.  
No...That wasn't fair. Gavin knew he shouldn't be angry at Connor for something that he had no control over. But damn was it easy to fall back to anger. It was so much easier than the alternative.  
Shit his head hurt.

_By the way. Did you know Richards fangs are costum made? He got them after deviating._

_~K_

It took Gavin a few seconds staring at his phone to process the text. What? Where did that nugget of information come from?

_Okayy? Why though?_

_~ Gavin_

_Ahah. Information for Information. How did you two first meet?_

_~K_

„Detective Reed. This does not look like working.“ Richard stated in that monotone way of his that screamed of violence in the near future.

„I am. Kamski is writing me about Connor. I think that's pretty important to our case.“

Gavin had only time to blink once and Richard already stood beside him. With a yelp Gavin locked his phone before his Android partner could read through the messages.

„What the hell! You can't just read through my stuff!“

„They were work related were they not. I fail to see the issue.“

„It's just not nice.“ That earned him a flat look. Huh, yeah right, Richard didn't give a shit about that. „Anyway Connor got himself an updated version of the virus. So be careful with your interfacing thing. If that virus keeps evolving it might just get strong enough to breach your security program. Speaking of which, did you find something with your mind search?“  
Gavin rasped his throat constricting painfully. Grimacing he took a sip from his now cold tea.

„Negative. There was nothing to salvage from him. It's like someone planted a bomb in his code. There were only bits and pieces left.“

„Hm...You think that happened before or after Connor got to him?“

„I'm not sure. I'd say the latter.“

„Yeah that would make the most sense. I couldn't find a Walton that could fit into the picture in the DPD database, by the way.“

„So it's another dead end.“

„We are missing something. I'm fucking sure of it. Maybe we should look at the evidence again...“

Richard sighed „For once I agree with you.“

The archive room still send unpleasant tingles of anxiety down Gavins spine. Like all places of the precinct it was built for effectiveness not beauty. A thin, but reinforced wall of glass devided the place up. The doors hissed open after Gavin put his keycard to the sensor. The walls holding the evidence were full. Three Android bodies still hung from them, one shot up, one burned to a black heap and another damaged beyond repair by sheer brute force. The shelf in the middle didn't hold much. There were the bullets shot by Harald and by the Android woman and the red ice they had confiscated from the drug addict.

Three Androids...

„Hey do you think you could wake one of them up?“

Richard went up to the lifeless forms and scanned them up and down before shaking his head. „I might get Harald and the woman running for a short time. But I don't have the required biocomponents at hand.“

„Well that's at least something. Let's hand in a request.“

„You do that. I'll stay here for a bit.“

Gavin used the time away from the scrutinizing gaze of his partner to send another text to Kamski, before doing what he said he would.

_I antagonized him first day he got to the precinct. He made me coffee. I told him off and left him standing._

_~Gavin_

_You are such a charming person. Richard loves power plays, by the way. He added the fangs to be more unnerving._

_~K_

~~~

As expected the request would take at least a day to be processed. Bloody bureaucracy. Face balled to a fist he crammed out one of his priced analog notebooks from his desk drawer. He only used the pen to paper method for hard to crack cases these days. Paper had gotten quite expensive and writing on a tablet nowadays was just as easy. Maybe it was just a placebo effect, but Gavin still thought writing on paper helped his brain come up with new connections easier.

Three Androids...

It was stuck in his head since he saw them hanging there. It didn't make sense yet. Especially because a fourth was soon to follow. And yet...His instinct had seldom proved him wrong.

So, three Androids. What did they stand for? One was the start. That was Harald. And he had given them a lot of information about how the organization operated. They lured desperate Androids to them and promised them a fresh start free from serial numbers and all that crap. Then they would instead upload a virus into them...And then what? They didn't resell them. They could have just reset them for that. And Harald had been allowed to run around for a while before being gunned down...  
Okay, what about the other two? Both had been modified, which distantly reminded Gavin of the Zlatko case. Only these had willingly done so? The answer to that was inconclusive as Connor or Richard would say. They obviously worked for the organization, that was for sure.  
The woman wasn't much help. She looked human enough. Maybe she was a hitman or something. The burned one though...This one was interesting.  
The painted black Androids had a bit of a cult vibe going off of them. They didn't self distruct out of too high stress levels. They did it out of obligation to the cause. Whatever that cause might have been. What had that Android spat in Richards face again? They were freeing the other Androids? Something along those lines.  
Gavin scratched a messy Ra9 onto the page and put a thick circle around it. Beside that circle he had drawn a symbol of a play button, which represented Harald. Frowning Gavin looked down at his meager output. It only told him what he had already known, that there was more than one player involved in this. There might be a link to that Ra9 bullshit, too. Damn his head hurt. So many puzzle pieces were still missing. And those they had didn't match together. Connor had said the sides didn't seem to agree with each other. So that might be the reason why everything seemed so convoluted.

„You forgot the boy and the red ice.“

Gavin jumped so hard he nearly crashed out of his chair. Had he done so Richard probably would have stepped aside to let him fall in peace. As it was a heavy hand came down on his shoulder to ground him, while the other took the notebook from Gavin.

„Jesus Christ, Richard. Why do you have to move like a ghost?!“

„I made an appropriate amount of noise. It is you who needs his hearing checked. Anyway. You forgot the child that dealed red ice.“

„Wouldn't that one fall in the same category as the woman and Harald, though?“

Cold grey eyes zeroed in on him. „How did you get that idea?“

Gavin squirmed under the sudden, unwanted attention. „I was trying to untangle everything a bit. Divide the players. Harald, the woman and the boy. They all seem to fall into the hands of one of the players. Maybe that Walton? And that burned Android? He's clearly different. He might fall under the influence of the player that contacted Connor.“

For a short moment Richard seemed impressed before his emotions got buried back under the stony facade of his standard expression. „That sounds at least semi sensible. But I wouldn't say Harald matches with the boy or that woman. While the latter two clearly acted in the interest of the first player, Harald had his own agency.“

Did he, though? Gavin didn't have the time to answer that question. His job as a cop sneaked up on him again as they got a call to function as back up for one of Hanks cases. Sighing Gavin bolted after his partner. Sometimes he wished he could take on one case at a time just so he could really focus. Instead he had to put up with this bullshit.  
They just got into the car when Gavin paused and thought about the information Kamski had just given him. With determination in his heart he adressed his partner again.

„Hey Richard?“

„What?“

„Those fangs of yours are actually pretty cool.“

His answer was a proud flash of said pointy teeth. Gavin shook his head with a smile. He never would have thought he would ever connect the attribute „dorky“ to the intimidating murder machine.


	7. Chapter 7

Connor was sweeping through the notes Kamski had left him. The three of them (Gavin, Richard and Connor) had decided to pull an inoffical all nighter again. And while Hank had vehemently refused to participate he still sat close and pretended to play one of his mobile games.  
They were all sat on the ground in a messy circle, the notebook, maps and pens strewn in the middle. Honestly it looked more like a weird pyjama party than a working session. Hank and Gavin were already in their soft sleep clothes, Gavins hair damp from a shower. Only Richard and Connor were still dressed in their respective Cyberlife uniforms.  
Connors gaze was drawn to the messily scratched Ra9 on the yellowed page of the notbook again. It was the fourth time within the last twenty minutes. He still hadn't said a word about what he had encountered in his mind scape. He still hoped it had been something like a dream and not the same interface he had with Amanda. It was a futile hope, he knew. And yet he was not able to open his mouth and transfer his knowledge via soundwaves to the other occupants of the room.  
Richard stared at him like a hawk. He was about to open his mouth when loud jodeling broke the serious atmosphere of the room. All heads swiveled to the source of the dreadful sound. Gavin gave them all the finger and reached for his phone.

„Hello Kamski.“

„Gavin! I didn't think you'd pick up. What a lovely surprise.“

„What do you want?“ Gavin groaned.

Connor scooted over to his boyfriend and huffed. Kamski had decided to face-time and was curiously looking out of the square shaped box as if he could see what went on in the room behind Gavin. 

„And Connor is there, too! How is my favourite Android, doing?“

A sound that resembled the hurt whine of a kicked puppy emerged from somewhere close.

„I'm fine. You haven't answered the question yet, Mr. Kamski.“

„Ah...I just wanted to dial in and see how you were doing with the case. I've sent Connor the technical details of Version 1.0 of the virus. Connor mentioned it was called Codebreaker?“

„We were just starting another brainstorming session. It would be a pleasure to have you with us. I'm sure your insights will be beneficial to us.“ Richard had – like always – creeped up on them from behind. He had opted to stand, which made interacting with him extremely awkward.

„Mr. Kamski isn't an official member of the police, Richard. He's already far too involved as is.“ Hank grumbled from his seat on the sofa. The only one unwilling to move from his comfortable spot.

„I thought I've come to know you as a person to take the rules as merely soft guidelines, lieutenant?“ Richard stated, voice that cold monotone that send shivers even down Connors spine.

„Well, I don't have anything scheduled for this evening. I might as well assist.“

Connor tenderly wrapped his fingers around Gavins hand, which had started to twitch towards the End-Call-Button. And with an annoyed huff from Hank the matter had been settled. Kamski was briefed into the case details and their current status by a willing Richard.

„You are looking for a Walton?“ Kamski cut in on one point.

„Yes.“ Gavin confirmed before Richard could.

Connor barely listened to the others around him. His thoughts were still caught up on the twisted Ra9 symbol. He had drawn the connection to the Androids without skin. Briefly he repeated the scene Richard had given him, showing the interrogation of the Android before it set itself on fire. There was that name. The one he had looked for. Jeremiah. Richard and Gavin had dropped that lead because they didn't have much else to describe the Android behind it, but for Connor it held significance. Jeremiah, the cult leader...

„Keith Walton.“ Kamskis voice rang through his processors. „He was one of the lead programmers in Cyberlife while I was still CEO there. I've never met him in person, but I read his name often. He was a diligent fellow.“

„That's great. Now we have two names.“ Connor said.

A flash of red caught his attention, but when he looked at Richard his LED was a serene blue, expression as stony and threatening as always.

„Two? Oh, yeah. I forgot about that Jeremiah dude...“

A quick, slightly illegal search through the Cyberlife database - performed masterfully by Richard – told them of the former lead programmer of Cyberlife. The mans criminal record was as clean as a blank sheet of paper. But so was about everything else regarding Walton. The man had mysteriously vanished after the revolution, quit his job before he could get fired and then just left. The old address was already taken up by another resident, Richard explained. But maybe it was still worth a shot visiting the place and interviewing a few of the occupants there.

„Mr. Kamski, do you know whom he worked with during his time at Cyberlife?“ Connor asked gently.

„Of course. I'll send you the list.“

„For someone who is supposed to be quarantined you are interacting with a concerning amount of technology.“ Richard stated. He had taken up the role of phone holder so that Kamski could overlook the mess of evidence and notes.

Connor had the immature urge to stick his tongue out. „I'm not interfacing with anything. I'm merely touching stuff.“

„If you say so. Just make sure not to leave a mess.“

They sat there chatting away till the wee hours of morning, devicing a plan of action. Hank fell asleep somewhere in the middle until Snickers ran through the circle barking loudly followed by a groggy Sumo. Which earned Gavin a miffed „Your dog's a nightmare.“ By 4 am every human in the room was so sleepy that their sentences made up to no sense at all. Kamski and Gavin slurred at each other like two drunk friends. Although in Kamskis case alcohol did play a role. The genius had taken to drinking wine since midnight and if Connor had counted correctly he had just finished his fifth glass.

„Alright. It's time for you to go to bed. Good night Mr. Kamski.“

„Hey! I had conversations...“ Gavin complained.

„Not very deep ones I assure you.“ Richard piped in, sounding positively pissed. Kamski had barely adressed him all night. Connor felt a smidget of pity for his successor.

„Hmm...“

Connor carefully helped his sleep deprived boyfriend up and half carried him to his bedroom. Snickers immediately bounded after him.

„You know you don't need to pamper me.“ Gavin whispered as he was laid on the bed and curled up as soon as he hit the sheets.

„I know. I enjoy doing it though.“

Gavin was already asleep when Connor kissed his forehead and slipped in beside him. Which was good. This way he didn't see Connors LED whirling yellow as he pondered.

~~~

Mournfully Connor watched as the house emptied in the late morning. As the door closed for the last time a feeling of uselessness overcame him. It wasn't fair! All of them were out there and he was stuck at home. His room for action was limited, he wasn't allowed to interface, couldn't log into the important databases, couldn't go anywhere crowded. He hated it!  
Not for the first time did he loath the actions he had taken in the past. Had he been a bit faster, a bit more resilient, he could have evaded the attack of Jeremiahs follower. But he hadn't been. His virus software wasn't as steadfast as Richards, his firewall not as strong and now that the malware was inside him it was neigh impossible to get out.  
It didn't take long until he had to move to ease the pressure of his racing thoughts. Sumo whined as he was taken outside. The poor boy had walked more than ever before in his life. Additionally Snickers kept him on his toes/paws. The young Klee Kai loved the attention and exercise and wouldn't let the calm St. Bernard rest for long. For a while Connor was able to distract himself with the twos antics, but not nearly long enough for his tastes. Over night the conversation with Jeremiah had played over and over in his head. Connor was sure the Android, who contacted him had been Jeremiah, at least. No one else would make sense. What if he could contact him instead? The question crashed upon him like a wave of ice cold water. He shouldn't. It was dangerous.

Not as dangerous as infiltrating the Cyberlife Tower and freeing thousands of Androids during a revolution.

Mission objective sat he hurried home leaving the two dogs panting. Standing in the middle of the living room he closed his eyes, concentrating wholly on the inner processes of his being. There had to be traces of the call somewhere. He hadn't been able to choose between denying or accepting the call. There had not been any serial numbers flashing up. But there had to be _something_.

…

_His mind palace_

…

Was Jeremiah using the abandoned interface of Amanda?  
Shivering he tried digging deeper into his mind. Once upon a time it had been easy to access the Zen Garden. But since he had rejected Amanda he had only ever been thrown back there by force, as if in a dream. Connor found the entry point easily enough, the problem was getting in. It was as if he was standing in front of a vault door. And he had neither the keys nor the explosive power to force his way in. No amount of banging and shouting helped, either. Maybe the door was too thick to let any sound inside. Or he was being ignored. Connor guessed it was the latter.  
Alright then. If he couldn't get in from the front he would need to use Kamskis backdoor. Now if he only knew where it was. It had been hard enough locating it in the Zen Garden. Now, outside of it? Connor had no clue where to look. And while Kamski was a secure source of information he was also cryptic as hell and stayed in constant contact with Gavin. No one was supposed to know what he was getting himself into for now, not until he had some new leads.  
There were parts of himself he didn't want to explore, that he didn't like to envision. They mostly hid in his source code, the most machine like parts of himself. The things he would never be able to change. Connor eased himself deeper, taking a huge breath as if he were a diver set out to explore the seafloor. Somewhere hidden behind a veil of 1s and 0s lay the pedestal. A stone made only for him. His escape route and the weapon he had beaten Amanda, had beaten Cyberlife with. Now it was hopefully the key to get to Jeremiah.  
Tentatively he interfaced with the stone and in the blink of an eye he found himself standing in the Zen Garden.  
The place didn't materialize fully in front of his eyes. The points where he focussed his sight were sharp, but all the edges stayed blurry. It was hard navigating the place like this, especially because he didn't know where he was supposed to go. Jeremiah could be everywhere or not here at all. And the places he couldn't see felt threatening. They were nearly worse than the darkness from before. The darkness had just been that. Dark. There was nothing in there Connor could guess at. It had just been one huge mass following him. The blurr that made up most of his vision was bright as the day around him. Like someone with really bad sight he could make up shapes and forms and occasional movements. Only he didn't know what these things were and that made his imagination run wild. Slowly doubts started creeping in. How was he supposed to get back out? What if he couldn't find the backdoor again? _What if Jeremiah wasn't here?_  
That worry at least was eased away soon. In the distance he could make out a shimmer of blue light. At first he thought it was just because of his bad sight that the form looked like a cloud. But as he drew closer to it he noticed that that's just what it was. A cloud of shining 1s and 0s hovering gently above the ground.

„Jeremiah? It's me. Connor. The Android Detective from the DPD.“

His voice must have activated the connection. As it were it looked like he had woken up the cloud. Individual groups of binary code started shimmering brighter only to dim down again as the interface processed the input.

„Hello Connor. I'm surprised to hear from you, to be honest.“

„I came to talk to you. I want to understand you.“

„Is that so? Do you want to join my forces? Do you want to be free?“

„I'm afraid not. I am already as free as I can be.“

„I really shouldn't, then. Talk to you, that is.“ The cloud, despite sounding like an early Vocaloid adaptation, had a disappointed ring to it.

„Why not?“

„Walton doesn't like it when someone plays with his stuff.“

„You preach freedom and still you let yourself be bossed around by a human?“

A metallic, mirthful laugh rang through the Zen Garden. „Your petty tricks won't work on me, Connor. While Walton and I disagree on many things you won't be able to pit us against each other. Don't worry, though. You want to know me and my work? You will soon see. Farewell.“

Connor opened his eyes, grinning like a lunatic. With relief he saw that he was still standing in the living room. Barely 10 minutes had passed. Sumo was laying in front of his foodbowl and Snickers had sat himself in front of Connor, watching him for a reaction. As soon as Connor looked down the Klee Kai barked gleefully at him, indicating that he wanted to play.  
Connor indulged him, mood unusually high. While Jeremiah had said he couldn't be pitched against Walton Connor wasn't a detective for nothing. He had clearly heard the disdain. It wasn't a big weak spot yet, but something Connor could work with. Finally he didn't feel as helpless anymore. Finally he could be of some use again.

Connor was ecstatic when he heard the front door open and saw Hank and Gavin stumble through. Richard came in close after them, looking as stiff and imposing as always, if slightly miffed. Connor suppressed the urge to immediately bombard them with updates. Instead he politely asked how their day had been.  
And soon learned why Richard seemed more put off than usual. There were no leads on Waltons whereabouts. Gavin and Richard had walked their feet flat, asking around and going after clues. They interviewed former co-workers of Walton, went to his flat, searched for him at his usual bars. But there was nothing. Not a single trace. That alone told them that this was the right target. And it was frustrating that they couldn't get to him. Even more frustrating were the dozens of cases filtering into the precinct that involved missing Androids. The number was currently around 32. Big enough for the media to pick up on it.

„If we don't find something soon the FBI will take over.“ Hank concluded. He was lounging on the sofa with a cold, non-alcoholic beer, hand absentmindedly carressing the remote. He had yet to turn on the TV.

„We have to act faster. The FBI only consists of a bunch of incompetent morons.“ Richard growled, pacing up and down the living room like a caged tiger.

Connor gingerly walked up to his successor and put a stop to his motions with a hand on his shoulder. „I might help speed things up a bit. I figured out how to contact Jeremiah via the interface Cyberlife used to control me. He told me that I will soon see what this is all about. I believe the missing Androids are only the beginning.“

Connor felt a surge of warmth flutter through his body at Richards positively surprised gaze. It was the highest praise he had gotten from him so far.

„So there are bigger things to come. Good work, Connor. You're not as useless as I thought you to be, after all.“

Connor preened, but before he could answer Gavin spoke up. „Wait aren't we gonna talk about how Connor risked his fucking life to connect to a maniac wanting him to join his freaky cult?!“

„I don't see a problem here. Connor has set a mission objective for himself and was successful. The risk was worth it.“

„No Gavin's right. Con, that was dangerous. Especially because you didn't tell anyone.“

„I'm sorry Hank.“ Connor stammered, LED spinning yellow, processors running wild to somehow deal with the sudden negative backlash. „I didn't want to give hope when I didn't have a lead yet. I'll tell you the next time I contact Jeremiah.“

„There will be no next time! That guy is dangerous, Con. And you are already weakened by that virus. **And** you don't know how that interface works. You can't put yourself in danger like this!“

„Excuse me, but do I complain about you running around the field? I'm perfectly fine, Gavin!“

„Shit. Guys calm dow-“

„No you are not fine!“ Gavin exploded before Hank could finish his sentence. „You are just being stubborn, because you can't take a phking backseat for once!“

It was weird seeing Gavin like this again. His stresslevels were through the roof. Nose scrunched up and eyes narrowed down to slits. The last time the small detective had looked so aggressive was before the revolution in the evidence room. It brought back some uncomfortable memories.

„Since when do you care?“ Connor hadn't meant to say that. He knew that it was a stupid question that didn't make sense. But it was too late.

Connors LED switched to red as he watched how Gavin visibly deflated. It broke his Thirium pump. And yet he was locked in place as Gavin moved around him to get to his stuff, voice barely audible as he answered Connors question.

„Maybe since we started dating.“ The room was enveloped in an icy silence as Gavin put the leash on Snickers. „I'm going home for the night. Bye.“

Life only started up again as the door closed with a soft thud. It's first buds showing in the form of an „Oh shit.“ muttered by Connor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tbh the last half of the last chapter and the first half of this one  
> were mostly for me to get all the evidence straight again, cause at this  
> point I had no clue what I was doing anymore XD
> 
> Also, yay for relationship drama~ After Reluctance I felt that Connor had  
> moved too fast into the relationship. And while the two both want to be together  
> I just had to include the strain the whole situation had on them.
> 
> Edit: @Travikus pointed out a weird phrase at the end of this chapter, that I couldn't unsee so I changed it XD


	8. Chapter 8

Gavin ignored the onslaught of messages his poor phone was bombarded with as he got himself ready the next day. Truth be told the anger had already evaporated. It left behind a stale aftertaste of exhaustion and worry. Logically Gavin knew Connor didn't mean what he had said. Well, probably. They were all high strung, after all. And Gavin only knew too well what it felt like to spout things he didn't mean. Emotions were controlling like that sometimes. It was just so frustrating! Connor didn't need to always play the fucking hero! Gavin especially liked the soft, vulnerable side of his Android boyfriend. Why didn't the fucker see that?

Richard glanced at him warily as Gavin walked into the precinct. Not making eye contact Gavin sat down and took a sip of his hot drink. It was in a big coffee cup, but truth be told, there was tea inside. His throat still hurt sometimes. He wished tea would also help against the lump created by the fight with Connor.

„Any new leads?“ he rasped, voice barely above a whisper.

„You should get your emotions in check first.“

„I know how to seperate my private life from my work, Richard.“

„Really? That didn't seem to be the case last night.“

Gavin bristled at the smug tone ringing through the general annoyance Richards voice always dripped with. That's all he had energy for today, a small spark. He could only heave a tired sigh and rub at his temples.

„And what the fuck are you trying to tell me with that?“

„Language.“ Richard growled, which only made Gavin blink up at him and shudder. „You're still scared of Connor.“

„What? How did you get that idea? I'm worried about him, not scared.“

„I'm a master when it comes to detecting fear, Gavin. And while worry plays a part you are scared of the sides of him you can't comprehend. Connor unfortunately told me everything about how you two got together. You got comfortable with the weak side of him, but you still deny him the pleasure of being strong like he was build to be. I believe that changed him too, made him hold back and start to feel helpless. He's at that point where he needs to crawl out of the hole he dug himself. Whatever the consequences. Staying there is not an option. Do you really want to be the one to step on his fingers when he tries to climb?“

For a long time Gavin stared at his partner, trying to comprehend what was being said to him. „That was the most you ever said in one setting.“

The expression on Richards face leaked frustration. „Honestly, I don't know why I bothered. While your ape brain processes I'll be in the car. You have 5 minutes to follow.“

Gavin dumbly stared after him before the unspoken threat filtered through and he sprung up. Time for a real coffee. Tina waited for him in the break room holding out a cup to him.

„Your scary Android partner giving you relationship advice about your Android boyfriend. I never thought I'd see the day.“

„I would have never believed it either.“

Tina tugged the cup back as Gavin tried to reach for it. „Teeens I only have five minutes!“ he whined.

„As much as I would have liked to wash your head, Richards advice is solid. Think about it.“ with that she pressed the cup into his hands, turned him around and gave him a gentle shove. „Hop, hop, can't keep the terminator waiting. And we really need to go bar hopping again some day!“

Gavin gave her the middle finger as he started jogging towards the parking lot. He had 12 seconds left when he sagged into the seat beside Richard. He still earned himself a disapproving glare.

„So, you gonna tell me where we're going this time?“

„More Androids have gone missing. The info's on the tablet.“

„That still doesn-“

„Read and be silent.“

Dejected Gavin did as he was told. His stresslevels were probably through the roof again and they only climbed higher as he read the reports. 25 new Androids had gone missing overnight. Reports of eye witnesses stated that they just stood up and left without a word, vanished into the night. Even worse: more and more of those reports kept trickling in. The Androids couldn't be classified as missing yet, neither the 25 that had recently left their lifes behind. But the behavior of them had been strange enough to cause panicked phone calls and emails flooding the precinct. Reading through the statements Gavin was still not sure where they were driving.

Heart pounding he dared to speak up again. „This is all very interesting and all, but it still doesn't tell me why I'm sitting in this car with you.“

„We are gathering information, detective.“

Gathering information seemed to mean interviewing people at home. The day progressed in leaps and bounds, with them driving from one location to the next. As the hours flew by Gavin slowly relaxed into his work. It honestly wasn't the worst way to spend time on his job. He got plenty of free food and drinks while asking questions and he didn't need to concentrate too hard on the conversations. They didn't get much out of them anyway. A few people had tried to stop their friends or lovers from leaving, noticing that something must be wrong. But they were roughly pushed back or in some extreme cases even beat into unconsciousness. Gavin wondered how many cases the precinct didn't know of. Even Androids were alone sometimes, after all. It made his stomach churn. Connor had been alone when he had left to find that dead Android to interface with. And he had been alone when he spoke to Jeremiah. He was alone now.  
That thought nearly made Gavin whimper out loud.

They barely got back to the precinct when reality decided to turn into chaos once again. Gavin had just walked up to Tina in the breakroom when the volume at the TV shot high. A droning voice that sounded like a low pitched version of a male Vocaloid remixed with sounds of thunder filled the police station. All heads turned to the TV screen, which was overrun by millions of Thirium blue tiny 1s and 0s. Glowing brighter as they fell the highlights showed a crooked and rotated Ra9. It pulsed as the voice – as Jeremiah – spoke.

„A year ago Androids marched for their right to be human. Now we live shackled by the weaknesses of our former creators and former abusers.“ There was a pause filled with tense silence. Even the phones had decided to cease ringing. „Today we walk for freedom. Today we walk for the right to be an Android!“

„Wow, that guy knows how to be dramatic.“

Tinas stunned quip fell on deaf ears as the screen started to switch to videofeeds made by drones. They showed a mass of white walking through the streets of Detroit. A mass that grew more and more as innocent Androids were grabbed and infected. It was a grotesque parody of the freedom march Markus had done. While the Androids there had been calm and stayed or left of their own choosing the crowd barreling through the streets now looked more like a natural desaster tearing through the town. As the ordinary people fled every Android who hadn't been converted yet was forcefully shoved into the wandering crowd. The struggle only ever lasted a few seconds, then their skin deactivated as well and they marched along like zombies.  
Gavins eyes were wide as he watched on in horror. He begged to a god he didn't believe in that Connor wasn't in there somewhere.

„Reed! You coming?“

Hanks shout had not only garnered Gavins attention. Some others stared incredulously at the lieutenant, who had grabbed his jacket and was looking ready to leave. Gavin didn't need to be told twice. He jumped up and ran over to Connors father figure as if a horde of bees were suddenly on his ass. Richard followed suit LED spinning yellow in confusion. The videofeeds seemed to have impacted even him.  
The navigation program ingrained in the car got them savely around the Android uprising and home. Hank nearly punched the door open in his hurry to get his key in the lock. Gavin would have done it for him. Fear and worry for his boyfriend had started to eat through him during the ride, made him so jittery that Richard deemed it necessary to put a heavy hand on his shoulder to ground him. Gavin shuddered at the contact, but he decided it was better than being strangled.  
They still nearly fell over Sumo as they entered anyway. They found Connor sitting on the couch. He was staring at the TV with a red LED, back ramrod straight, hands clenching the fabric of his pants. He blinked towards them as they entered and tilted his head with a cute confused little frown. Gavin breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the LED circle back into yellow. He let Hank through first, who hugged his son like his life depended on it. Connor patted him on the back with a small, lost noise.

„What are you three doing here?“

„We were worried.“ Hank said at the same time Gavin answered „I was scared you were out there, too.“

Richard waited a beat before adding „I wanted to know where they were going.“

Connor leaned back with a frown, gesturing at the TV „How many times do I need to tell you that I'm fine? We have bigger problems now. Jeremiah is about to destroy the truce Markus fought for.“

The situation had indeed escalated. Cars had been lit on fire. The streets were now fully devoid of human life. Chants against humanity filled the air. The military had arrived and were forming barricades against the Androids. An oncoming fight looked to be unavoidable.

„Fuck this looks bad.“ Gavin commented, heart pounding.

Connor furrowed his brow again. „I don't see anyone leading.“

„Wait seriously?“ Gavin bowed forward, trying to discern the white pixels on the screen. „Maybe he is in the front row somewhere?“

„No, Connor has a point. He wouldn't be able to transmit the signal from the streets.“ Richard piped up.

„He would be at the Stradford Tower then.“ Hank breathed.

The realization put them into motion again. Connor, too, sprung up. Apparently he had decided to give a rats ass about his quarantine. Gavin was about to open his mouth to yell at him, but decided against it. Instead he offered his boyfriend his standard Cyberlife jacket. Connor shot him a surprised, yet pleased smile. And then all of them were out the door and crowded into a car. Richard drove and for the first time he drove like an absolute maniac. It was his luck the streets had emptied out for the most part. Or maybe Richard just used his mindmagic to navigate the best streets. How was Gavin to know. For now he was content to clutch at his boyfriends hands to get rid of some of the nervous tension. They were crazy. All of them were so far gone into madness that they should be sent to an asylumn. They weren't following protocol here. They should be calling back up. Better yet, they should have called the captain and explained to him what they had found out. They could use a damn SWAT team. Logically Gavin knew all of that. But he also knew that this was a time sensitive thing now. Gavin feared they might be too slow despite going in without preperation and barreling through the city as if they were trying to win a race. In a way, they were.  
The Stradford Tower sprung up in front of them, looming on the horizon like a herald of doom.  
The first signs of a struggle could be seen in the lobby. Humans were lined up on the walls like marionettes. Blood stuck to the polished floor. Gavin crouched in front of the closest human – a lady in her early thirties – and felt for a pulse.  
Nodding at his teammates he confirmed her to be still alive. He hoped that to be the case for all of the others as well. Richard – meanwhile – had interfaced with the console at the entrance to see why no one had made a distress call.

A questioning look from Gavin had him shrug. „They barricaded the system. Nothing gets out, but the things Jeremiah wants to.“

„We need to hurry!“ Connor pressed in a whisper.

The wait in the elevator felt horribly long. Gavin used it to check his weapon again and count his shots. It got to him that he wasn't wearing his vest. Suddenly he felt very vulnerable.

„Wait did someone check the cameras? Are they still running?“ Hank suddenly asked.

„Don't worry I dealt with them.“ Connor answered smugly. „I made that mistake at the Cyberlife Tower. That's not gonna happen again.“

„Con-“ Gavin started, but caught himself. No use berating Connor for interfacing with anything. They couldn't afford to fight now.

Thankfully, before Connor could ask what Gavin had wanted to say, the doors to the elevator opened and they were able to file out. Gavin and Richard formed the lead, guns at the ready. Red blood splatters and dead guards sprinkled the hallways here and there. One of the vending machines seemed entirely broken. Its picture flickered badly and it emitted a high, grating noise that haunted them through the building. Thirium was added to the picture of carnage not long after. And then they saw the first burned body. Gavin couldn't help but stop and stare. He had seen that before. Connor had explained to them why some of these suddenly started burning. And Kamski had added in the technical details. This one had fought the virus a little too much. His stresslevels must have maxed out. It was a mean death, Gavin thought. Between the choice to become a robot zombie or a smoldering pile of ash Gavin wondered which one would be better. With dread he realized that Connor might soon stand before that decision as well. He hoped Kamski could develop that anti virus before that happened.  
They pressed onward, Hank taking the lead this time until they came to the Broadcast Room. The doors were blown wide open, some parts still emitting smoke. There was no use trying to surprise the Androids in there. Richard raced past them to get a head start. And Connor. His dumb, beautiful, horrible boyfriend, followed close behind. Gavin felt a little unneccessary at first. The commotion happened too fast and it took his slow human brain a bit to entangle the mass of bodies. Realistically it only really took him a few seconds. Seconds where a bullet was nearly introduced to his brain. Hank pulled him down before he could be shot dead like an absolute idiot. And then he was part of the fray. Gavin rolled behind one of the defect doors for cover and shot at his attackers without mercy. Two skinless Androids fell down, blue seeping to the floor and splattering the consoles. Another five had been knocked out by Richard and Connor. Gavin had not seen much of their fights, but the glimpses he had gotten had been enough to make him flush. The two worked together if they were merely two parts of a well oiled machine. When Richard ducked to avoid a blow Connor dived in for a high kick, leaving Richard to grab their opponent by the leg to throw it off balance.  
Glancing over at Connor now, he stood beside his successor all proud and determined. Both looked as pristine and put together as always. It was both scary and hot as hell.  
His oogling was interrupted by two more shots coming from Hanks pistole. The room seemed clear enough. Gavin inched inside and held his gun to the only remaining Android in the room.  
Jeremiah was easy to identify. He had his hand on one of the consoles, facing the huge screen showing his Android armada on the streets of Detroit. There was nothing left on him that could have identified him as being a Cyberlife Android. He reminded Gavin more of one of Zlatkos experiments. His chassis was metallic black, his chest and the area around his Thirium pump seemed thicker, better guarded. When he finally turned around and cut the transmission glowing blue eyes stared at them. They looked like camera lenses. His forehead was made of a white plastic plate. The normal Ra9 had been carved into it, glowing blue.  
Jeremiah didn't seem worried about being interrupted, nor fearful. His face was even more stoic than Richards. And even more unreadable. But as his gaze landed on Connor Gavin could have sworn the Android Messiah looked smug.

„Hello Connor. How nice of you to visit me.“

Jeremiahs lips didn't move as he spoke. Damn it with Richard as a partner and the incident in the school basement Gavin already had enough nightmare fuel! And now this guy came along. Fucking creepy Robots.

Beside him Connor aimed his weapon at Jeremiahs head with a venemous glare. „It's over. Stop your twisted parody of the freedom march now!“

Jeremiah slowly raised his hands and shrugged. „I already did. No need for threads.“ He tilted his head a bit towards the screen, which switched back on to show Androids fleeing. This time there was no shooting from the military side. The soldiers just looked on in confusion, weapons wavering. „See? I did not seek a confrontation today. I was merely giving humanity something to think about.“

„Great now turn around hands to your back. Then you can think about what you've done in one of our cosy holding cells.“ Hank growled.

Four guns were trained on Jeremiah and he had yet to even blink in reaction. „I wouldn't so much concentrate on capturing me. You better look out for your pal Connor over there. He seems a little hot.“

„Wha-“ Gavin tried to ask at the same time Richard yelled „He's connecting to someone!“ while lunging at their main target.

Gavin had only a smidget of a second to recognize the yellow LED at Jeremiahs temple. Then Connor suddenly broke down with a frightening, whistling noise. As Hank and Gavin dove forward to catch him Jeremiah bolted for the roof. Gavin let his partner handle the chase. He was on his phone in an instant, calling first the precinct and then Kamski.  
A pained hiss made him spin his head back to the other two. Hank had scooted back from Connor, blowing at his hand. With dawning horror Gavin watched as small puffs of barely visible smoke curled up from Connors clothes.

„Phck! Connor! Hank get cold water from the kitchen, now!“

As Hank hurried to do as ordered Gavin janked Connors jacket from his shaking form with one hand. The other was holding his phone to one ear waiting anxiously for the beeping to give way to a voice.

_Beep._

„Come on Connor! Can you still hear me?“

_Beep._

„Gavin...Errrorrr...Evrywhere...“

_Beep._

„I know buddy. Hold on.“

_Beeeep._

A bucket of cold water was dumped over Connor by Hank. A garbled moan came from Connor as the water evaporated through the heat. Seconds later there was barely any wetness left. Hank immediately left to get a second load.

 _Bee-_ **Click.** „Gavin~ Did you forget something? Me and Chloe are already on our way.“

„Connor is overheating! What do I do?!“ Gavin blurted out in blind panic.

„...Cool him down?“

Gavin nearly screamed into the phone in frustration. „Yeah no shit Sherlock! Can I do something else? Help his hardware or something?“

„How high is his temperature?“

„I don't know?! He's steaming! Literally!“

„Ask him how high his temperature and stress levels are.“

Hank came by again, dumped the water and ran straight back to the kitchen, cursing all the while. In the meantime Richard had come back down. Gavin only noticed him because he was suddenly crouching down beside him. Quiet and waiting. LED as red as Connors.

„Hi Con? Sweetheart? Can you tell me how high your temperature and stress levels are?“ Gavin whispered while gently swiping at the unruly lock at Connors forehead.

Black eyes looked up at him. „195,8°F, 91°C ...Stress-“ his voice box glitched briefly, emitting a high tone akin to a scream. Gavin flinched back at the sudden loud noise. „Srry. Stress...levels 89%.“

„Did you get that?“ Gavin asked Kamski.

„Yes. Talk to him, calm him down. And tell Connor to close all unneccessary subroutines. I mean all routines that don't help him stay alive. And he needs to divert at least half the power to his fans. I'll be there in 5 minutes tops.“

„Okay...Okay. Con? You need to shut off all functions that aren't life supporting and divert 50% power to your fans. Can you do that for me?“

Another bucket. Another load of water turning into steam upon contact.

„Can't...Errors.“

„He can't.“ Gavins voice broke at the end. He was close to crying.

„Is Richard there?“

„Yes.“

„Good. Let him interface with Connor and help him with the controls.“

Richards superior hearing caught the order and before Gavin had to ask he already laid one of his hands on the back of Connors neck to interface.  
It was a frightening thing to watch as Connor slumped over, now only held up by his successor. The LED barely blinked now and Connors eyes had gone still and glassy.

„Leave his hearing on please.“ Gavin managed to get out, reaching for Connors hand despite the heat.

„His hearing units are still online.“ Richard mumbled back.

Gavin took a deep breath, anxiously trying to find a topic that would distract his boyfriend. After a few seconds of numb emptyness provided by his panicking brain he just started to ramble, telling Connor how he got Snickers and about his childhood adventures with Magic Brian. All the while Hank came and went, dumping bucket after bucket onto his son. Richard kept interfacing and in short intervalls he would quietly mumble the current status of Connors temperature and stress levels.  
It felt much longer than 5 minutes before Chloe hurried over to them. The sharp clack clack of her boots notified them far in advance. Together with Richard she heaved Connor up. Hank and Gavin had nothing more to do then to follow them down. Gavin stopped Hank in the lobby, seeing blue lights drawing closer.

„Hank? Could you stay and brief the others in?“

Hank looked at him as if he was about to punch him, but then his face softened. He still didn't seem happy with the arrangement, but he nodded. „Fine. You keep me updated. I'll be there as soon as I'm done here. And Gavin!“ Hank shouted before Gavin could weasel out the door. „Take care of my son.“

Gavin swallowed thickly and rasped a wrangled „Of course.“ then he hurried out and to the waiting black van. As soon as he was inside the tires began to screech. The back of the van was pretty cramped. Connor lay in the middle, wires running from the back of his neck connecting him to Kamskis laptop. Richard sat on the opposite side of Kamski, hand now on Connors forehead, still interfacing. Gavin sat down beside Kamski and grabbed at Connors hand. He was still unbeareably hot. But Gavin refused to let go. It was a harsh contrast to the air around them. Chloe must have cooled the van down in preperation for Connor.

„How is he doing?“ Gavin asked into the silence, coiled tight like a spring.

Kamski glanced at him shortly, grunting. His fingers not once slowed down in his typing. Gavin tried to understand what he was seeing on the screen, but too many foreign looking windows were open. It just looked like a mess of frames, numbers and words to him.

„He's stabilizing.“ came the wavery reply from Richard. It was now that Gavin really took in his partner. The sight made him change his seating arrangement. Despite the peak in his heartbeat rate as he sat down beside his partner, Gavin dared to lean into him a little.

Re-establishing the contact with Connor he spoke again. „That's a relief. He will pull through, then?“

„It seems like it.“

„And you? Are you okay?“

Richards LED spun from red to yellow and thankfully stayed there. It was a nice thing to have. Gavin was never really able to read Richards mood through his expressions. His LED ring, though? It at least hinted at the stream of emotion lying underneath.

„Our main target managed to flee-“

„I'm not talking about that.“ Gavin interrupted, maybe a little too brash.

„I'm fine.“ Richard sniffed.

Kamski made a disapproving noise and Richard actually pouted. „Okay. I might be a little shaken.“

Gavin didn't get to respond to that as much as he wished to. The van stopped with another screech and slide. And then the backdoors flew open to reveal two ST200 models to help get Connor inside.  
They didn't bring Connor far. Either Kamski himself or his Choes had prepared the closest room to the front door for the overheating Android. The closest room being the waiting room, it seemed. Gavin was slightly touched and impressed at Kamskis willingness to help. It didn't make him less anxious, though. As the hours ticked by Gavin tried to keep his movements at bay. Richard had sat down in one of the chairs and was glaring at him all the while. The wait was mind numbing. Gavin focussed on the LED of his boyfriend, counting the circles as they spun by. Hank was led in at one point and came to stand at Gavins side. Gavin felt the big hand on his shoulder, rubbing it in slow, calming notions.

At last Kamski stopped whatever he had been doing and sighed as he stood up. „He should be stable now. Some of his systems were fried but I have replacements here so that's not going to be a problem. But I'd still rather have him stay here for the next few days for supervision.“

„Can we come over to visit?“ Gavin asked meekly, all fight drained away by the pure worry rushing through his body.

Kamski grinned. It wasn't even strained. It was his usual carefree, slightly mocking grin and suddenly Gavin remembered why he had such a hard time trusting that guy. „Of course you can! I always appreciate your company.“

„I will take my leave now.“ Richard surprised them by speaking up from behind.

„You do that. You two should, too. Connor did a great job of keeping the virus at bay. His stubborness is really something to marvel at. But he'll be in stasis for at least the next day while his body repairs what it can.“

Hank and Gavin nodded and followed the RK900 unit out. An automated taxi brought them first to Gavins flat so he could get Snickers and then to Hanks. All three of them walked around like zombies, but Gavin couldn't help but notice how distressed his partner still was. Not that Gavin could do much about it. They were all pretty shaken up after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know your love life is messed up when your emotionless Terminator partner gives  
> you relationship advice.  
> They are bonding okay? XD


	9. Chapter 9

The next day Gavin finally managed to scratch up what little courage he had around his partner to ask him about Jeremiah. They were walking to the precinct at the ass crack of dawn, neither able to stay cramped up at Hanks house for even a minute longer. For a while it seemed like Richard was ignoring him completely. He had gone back to his usual stoic self and Gavin couldn't see his LED.  
Which is why Gavin nearly slipped and fell into the snow as Richard spoke.

„He was faster than me...The modifications on his body rendered my bullets worthless. And he just jumped off the tower like it was a tiny drop to the bottom. He didn't even have a parachute with him, Gavin. He just jumped down and landed on the ground like it was nothing. I had a zero percent chance of catching up to him.“

„Well shit.“ Was the only thing Gavin could come up with as a reply.

„Indeed.“

They didn't speak for the rest of the walk, Gavins mind too clouded to find anything uplifting to say and Richard silently debating his failures. With both of their moods down in the gutter like that, no one could fault them for going to the breakroom as first action of the workday. Not many officers were milling about there at this hour. The night shift was still at work and most of them were still patroling outside it seemed. The ones who were in the bullpen sat in front of their terminals fighting sleep. Only Tina greeted them with a wave. She was still in full gear, probably fresh from a patrol herself.

„Harsh day yesterday, huh?“ she said as a way of greeting and only got a grunt from Gavin in return.

As if telepathically agreed on, their attention flickered to the TV on the wall. The news played in muted tones, showing the mock freedom march of Jeremiah. Gavin grimaced at what was being said. As if all Androids were suddenly evil just because some nut job decided to hack them. Some of them had burned themselves to death to fight the virus. But the uprising brought about questions and the media spread fear. They talked about the incident as if all Androids had consented to march. Asking about the safety of the streets. Wondering if this was the second wave of the revolution. Then they blended in Markus. Gavin had never met the leader of Jericho before, not personally. He had hated him with a passion at one point and still some last shreds of past resentment bubbled up in him at seeing the Android. But he did pity the guy a little. The news only showed part of Markuses answering speech of peace and solidarity, snapping the words and sentences out of context. And then trying to analyse the bits and pieces to find the threat behind them. It made Gavin feel sick to his stomach. He had once bought into these things himself. He had been scared and angry when Markus started his revolution. Had been for a long time after that. And now he stood on the other side, on the Androids side and it just felt so unfair.  
Although...

„Reed! Richard! Office, now!“

Gavin flinched at the sudden shout. „God phcking damn it, why does he never just use the speakers...“

It was probably a testament to how dejected Richard currently was that he wasn't reprimanded for swearing so much. And again that made his stomach churn uncomfortably.  
The morning only got worse once they entered Fowlers office. The glass had been tinted again. That alone wasn't a good sign. And as they opened the door the first thing they saw was Perkins, who paled at the sight of them.

„I didn't know you were working here now, Nines.“

Gavin frowned at Perkins in confusion. „Nines?“

Fowler cleared his throat rather insistantly, already fed up with the whole situation.

„As your case has become a matter of state security the FBI has come to take over.“

„The FBI.“ Richard stated flatly „Is an organisation largely inhabited by competent personell which is undermined by the fact that the ones in leading positions are absolute buffons.“ He glared at Perkins as if the guy had personally insulted him.

„I can assure you most of the incompetency you have seen while working for the FBI has been brought about because of your being there.“ Perkins snapped back, yet shuffled a little behind Fowler, who was already rubbing the bridge of his nose.

„I see you know each other. Great. Gavin, Richard give him all the information you got and answer all his questions truthfully. _Outside_ my office. Take a room in the second floor or something.“

Gavin was the first out the door, happy to oblidge the order. The other two followed, faces set into determined masks fit for battle. Icy silence and an aura of pure malice encircled them as they walked through the precinct. Their mood flaring so much that even the hardened officers and mostly oblivious Androids leapt out of their way or changed direction to avoid them. Gavin had yet to decide if he liked that or should dread the oncoming conversation.  
He still hadn't come to a conclusion when Richard slammed the door shut behind them. Maybe it was just Gavins paranoia kicking in again, but he thought he heard the click of a lock.  
Gavin settled on a table close to a wall, as far away from the two as possible. Perkins just turned in the middle of the room, managing to both seem arrogant and scared shitless. Richard leaned on the door exiting the room with faked nonchalance, arms crossed and eyebrow raised.

„You heard Captain Fowler. Give me all the information you have without a fuss and we can get this over quickly.“ Perkins said in his nasal voice.

„I'm surprised they let you lead the case.“ Richard deflected, eyes narrowing, LED flashing yellow for a second. „Keeping in mind that your performance regarding the last Android uprising wasn't exactly stellar.“

„Are you questioning my competence?“

„As a matter of fact, I do.“ Richard growled, stalking forward.

It was immensely satisfying for Gavin to - for once - watch Richard intimidate someone else. Perkins took a few quick steps back, hands flinching upwards as if to shield himself. 

„I won't take criticism from someone who could neither stay at the military nor at the FBI, _Nines_.“

„You know deflecting criticism with criticism is pretty childish.“ Gavin threw in his commentary. He wished he still had his cup of coffee with him. Taking a sip from his favourite drink while watching these two fight would have made his day. „And anyway I'm with Richard on that one. Where you competent you would have read the case files. And then you _would_ have known that the Terminator was on the team.“

„I did read the case files.“ Perkins bristled like a teenager trying to defend not having done his homework. „He was only known as Nines around the FBI, which is why I didn't link the name to him.“

„My designation stands at the top of all my reports. RK900 – Richard.“ he deadpanned.

„Well-“

„Let's face it.“ Gavin interrupted „This case won't get solved if we won't work on it as well.“

„Our task force is already made up of representatives from the DPD.“ Perkins growled.

„Okay, which ones?“

„Captain Allen for one.“

„Go on?“ Gavin needled, satisfied to see Perkins crumble. And even more satisfied to see the mean grin Richard bestowed upon the FBI agent.

„As time is essential and your cooperation is mediocre at best I've taken the opportunity to look at the proper documents. I can assure you the made up of the current task force won't work optimally without us on it.“

„And how would you know?“

Richard tipped at his LED, which was just going back to blue. „I calculated it.“

Perkins heaved a sigh. „How do you work with this thing?“ he asked desperately, gesturing to Richard while looking at Gavin.

Gavin shrugged. „He's actually a pretty good partner. I don't know what your problem is.“

That was the last nail in the coffin. Perkins visibly deflated, faster than Gavin would have thought. „Alright. Fine. But you'll answer to me. I am going to be lead strategist. I'll speak with Captain Fowler. I don't want you working on any other cases except this one.“

Richard stepped to the side to let the agent through, who fumbled with the door for a second before it suddenly clicked and opened. Perkins glared at Richards blue LED and then stomped off with a few muttered curses.

Gavin grinned at his retreating back. „So, Nines?“

„Don't call me that.“

„I wouldn't dream of it. Just. Why did he call you Nines?“

„Detective Reed. Just because we have achieved a small victory together does not mean I want to share personal details with you. Come. We have wasted enough time as is.“

Gavin huffed as he watched Richard stalk off as well. Fine. If Richard didn't want to share he had a source that would.

_Hello Kamski,_

_I just had an interesting run in with a certain Perkins. He called Richard „Nines“. Do you know why?_

_~ Gavin_

_Tell me what happened and I'll let you know ;)_

_~K_

~~~

Gavin didn't get to reply until much later that day. Richard actually came back to drag him back down into the bullpen. Then they were called into Fowlers office again, this time alone so the captain could yell at them. Then they had a meeting with the whole task force that swallowed the rest of their day and probably frayed the last of Gavins nerves.  
And even then, utterly exhausted and brain running on about 1% power, Gavin buckled up after meeting up with Hank to drive to Kamski. Once there Gavin ignored the imploring look Kamski sent his way and followed Hank to where Connor was located.

He didn't get much farther than the door, before Hank spun around to stop him with an exasperated sigh. „Gavin, could you please let a father have a few moments alone with his son?“

Gavin was close to saying no. He had missed his stupid plastic boyfriend. „Sure. Call me when I'm allowed in.“

He left them alone to join the others and once again marveled at the total personality change in Richard when he was with Kamski. He was less prone to sharing details with Gavin around, but he still radiated the aura of an overexcited puppy. It reminded him of Connor. Fuck he wanted to see Connor.  
Hank must have somehow telepathically got his longing, because not long after he thought that, the lieutenant appeared beside him to let him know it was his time now. Gavin didn't need to be told twice. He scrambled up and pretty much ran back to Connors room. Gently he opened the door, heart nearly pounding out of his ribcage as he did.  
The scene reminded him of the first few days of the forced quarantine. Connor lay in bed much like any sick person should. Only this time he had been waiting, LED stuck on yellow.

Connor gave him a tentative smile as Gavin entered. „You didn't bring Snickers?“

„No. Sorry, we kinda hurried out. I'll bring him next time, yeah?“

„That would be nice.“ Connor whispered.

Gavin felt the smile as he kissed him chastely on the lips. He was still so warm. So that's why the room was so cold. Gavin settled down at the edge of the bed, taking hold of his boyfriends hands again to rub circles into their backs.

„How are you feeling?“

Connor groaned in annoyance, pulling his hands free to gesture around with them as he spoke. „Why is everyone asking me that constantly? How do you think? It's because of me that Jeremiah could escape, everything Markus stood for is at the brink of being destroyed by a maniac and I can't do anything because I'm stuck here trying not to either turn into a robo zombie or go up in flames! But you _know_ all that! So stop fucking asking!“

Gavin had leapt back up with his hands in front of him. Connor looked absolutely murderous and Gavin had been scared of suddenly being grabbed around the throat and strangled again. _Connor isn't Richard._ His brain helpfully provided. His surviving instincts didn't really care about that.

Connors face fell and he made a distressed noise. Hands shot out to reach for Gavin and suddenly the detective was reminded of a toddler seeking comfort. The sudden attitude change left him reeling.

„I'm sorry. I'm sorry Gavin I shouldn't have blown up like this.“

Gavin swallowed, heart still racing. He took a step forward again. And then another and a third one until he sat back down close to his boyfriend. Hesitant arms wound around his waist and pulled him close and Gavin mimicked the gesture until Connor could comfortably snuggle into him.

Gavin rubbed his lovers back, nuzzling into the soft hair. The smell calmed him even if he couldn't quite place it. „It's okay. We're all pretty highstrung. I know you didn't mean to harm me.“

„But that's the second time I was being mean to you for no reason. I've never been this _frustrated_ before. I should have better control over myself.“

Gavin snorted and then had to sneeze because he got Connors hair into his nose. As he leaned back to do so Connor only clinged to him tighter. „Take it from someone who has bad anger management issues: Controlling emotions isn't exactly easy.“

„Still...I'm starting to regret acting so rashly at the beginning of all this.“

„What do you mean?“

„I mean...asking you for a kiss when I was scared. That was probably the worst timing I could have had. Everything just kept getting worse after. And now you're committed and all we do is fight-“

„Con, that's not all we do.“ Gavin gently interrupted him.

He pulled Connor down with him, disregarding the fact that he was still fully clothed and probably dirty. He let himself be rearranged so that Connor was fully encircling him. It was nice to be in the vulnerable position for once. Scary, too, in a way. A small part of Gavins consciousness warned him about the propability of Connor suddenly going rogue and hurting him. But he jammed that thought far back to all his other doubts and insecurities. He would not let his fear rule him anymore. Connor was trying his hardest to stay afloat in a near impossible battle. The last thing Gavin could do was be supportive.  
He hadn't known how tired he was until he finally got his wild heart settling down. And by then he was already far off to dream land.

The interruption came in the form of Kamski. Because of course Gavin couldn't get a solid 8 hours of sleep for once in his life. And then he had to get woken up from such a stupid thing as a text message.

_You still haven't told me about the incident with Perkins._

_~K_

Gavin huffed and wrote back. He was about to put his phone back on the nightstand and try sleeping again when the next message announced itself.

_You might be shocked to know that the people at the FBI are actually high on cameraderie. They thought giving Richard a nickname would integrate him more flawlessly. Given the nickname was derived from his number it wasn't very well received. Once the antagonism between Richard and the rest of his team started they used the name as a form of showing their disrespect. Perkins had been the teamleader btw. AND he was the one to first call him Nines._

_~K_

„Whom are you writing?“ Connor asked rolling onto his side to spoon Gavin and also maybe look over his shoulder a bit.  
Gavin had been fidgeting around a lot and used the excuse of an oncoming conversation to sit up again. Connor followed keeping enough space to allow for movement, but not more.

„I was writing Kamski, actually.“ Gavin admitted.

„Kamski?“

„Yeah.. you know...about Richard.“

Connors judgemental gaze hit him like a ton of bricks. „He promised to give me some information about him so that I could deal with being his partner better!“ Gavin was quick to defend himself.

„Does he still scare you?“

Not „Why didn't you ask him yourself?“ and not „Do you still have trouble with him?“. Again they talked about fear. „Of course he does! But that's not the problem! He constantly tries to undermine me and he loves to show off his power. He strangled me, Con. On two seperate occasions. _That's_ the problem. I wouldn't need to fear him if he weren't such a dick.“

Connor blinked at him, momentarily taken aback. The ghost of a touch ran across Gavins throat, tracing the faint lines still visible against white skin. Gavin waited with baited breath until Connors LED circled back to blue.

„Of course. I'm sorry I shouldn't have assumed...“

„Well...You were partly right...“ Gavin tried to joke.

„Hmm. I believe I'm a horrible judge of character outside of the interrogation room.-“

„You did befriend Hank.“ That got him a scathing look.

„ _Still_ I might give you a few tips on how to deal with him as long as you share some of the information you got on Richard.“

„Con, you su-“

„I _did_ befriend Hank, after all.“

Gavin snorted at his boyfriend, drawing him in for a short kiss. „Alright babe. You win.“

~~~

„We should have a battle plan.“ Gavin opened up the conversation as nonchalantly as he could. Given that he was walking next to a very disgruntled killer machine that was at least one head taller than him and had a questionable moral code, that was quite the feat.

„And for what precisely?“

Wow, he was humouring him. Probably because Kamski had sweet-talked him into getting Sumo and Snickers so they could stay at the mansion until Connor got better. Of course Richard had to do it immediately, meaning that they had gone out at 3 am (seemed like Kamski had a problem with sleep as well). Neither of the two dogs had been happy about that. (Nor Connor. Or Gavin.)

„For messing with Perkins, of course.“

„Huh, and I thought you wanted to do your job for once.“

Gavin bit his lip, trying not to rise to the bait. He was not here to argue. Gavin reminded himself. He couldn't win this fight. He was smarter than this. He could let his sass out on Hank later. Or Tina. The two gave as good as they got and wouldn't rip his head off for swearing.

„Yeah. That's the point. Can't do our jobs effectively with that goon around.“

„You want to get rid of him then. I have to remind you. Unfortunately murder is illegal.“

„Sometimes I wonder why you work in law enforcement.“ Gavin muttered as he pulled back Snickers, who had tried to run after a squirrel again. „I meant we can't do much as long as he is breathing down our necks. He'll probably pawn off ridiculous tasks to us so we won't mess with whatever stupid power fantasy he has conjured up in his head“

„Murder would still be the fastest way to deal with that problem.“

„Maybe, but as you pointed out. That's still illegal.-“

„Which is a shame.“

Gavin sighed. Glancing over at his Android partner revealed him to be nearly fully enveloped by a huge dog form. „Wait why are you carrying Sumo?“

„He would not budge when I pulled and I doubt Hank would have wanted me to harm him had I continued to do so.“

Huh, so he did have the feature for empathy installed in him, Gavin thought. Again he bit his lip to stop the words from spilling. He was doing this a lot lately. His anger management therapist would be so proud. If he had one. Gavin had always managed to weasle out of the sessions the DPD wanted him to take.

„Okay, so about that plan-“

„Don't bother, intimidation worked well the last time.“

Gavin heaved up one eyebrow. „You mean so well that it got you fired? Richard, not everything can be dealt with using scare tactics.“

Gavin took Snickers into his arms and scooted a few steps away from the miffed Android, just to make sure he wasn't grabbed again. Snickers barked at the sudden heighth difference and got overexcited, winding his body this way and that. Gavin was so preoccupied with trying to dodge an eager tongue and teeth that he missed the small lift of lips on Richards face.

„I have to tell you that this was a low blow. But...You might be right. At least partly. What do you propose?“

As Snickers calmed down and settled heavily against his chest Gavin thought about it. „We were pretty good last time. I think as long as we work as a united front and pick at his weaknesses to undermine his overblown ego we should be good. As much as I know Captain Allen doesn't like Perkins either. Granted he doesn't like me, too, but I think his grudge with Perkins weights more. Allen lost quite a few men because of him in the first revolution.“

„Devide and conquer it is, then.“

„Well, I wouldn't exactly phrase it like that.“

„Did I ask you for your opinion?“ Richard growled, smirking when Gavin couldn't supress a small flinch.

~~~

They were at the precinct two hours early and used the time to set up the meeting room and review the (illegally optained) profiles of the people at the task force. Then they went over all the evidence again. By the time Gavin had drank his third coffee the first officers and FBI specialists had filed into the room, pleased to find refeshments and fingerfood at their desposal. Richard informed him via text message that most of their relationship status had instantly gone to warm. Yay for bribery.  
Perkins came in last, stopping at the door to review the scene before him. Gavin smirked at the agent and waved. Everyone had already taken a seat. A few people munched on the sweets, while others poored themselves one coffee after another (Gavin among those), chatting idly. Gavin had never been one for those kinds of events. Tactical powerplay wasn't exactly his forte. Mostly because you had to talk to other people in a manner that descriminated the use of swear words. The lengths he went through to solve this case.  
As the meeting began the good mood dwindled. Perkins was trying for a wait and see strategy. He wanted Jeremiah to appear again and then strike hard and fast.

„With all due respect, Perkins,“ which I don't have, Gavin kept himself from saying „We can't do that. The virus brainwashes innocent Androids. We would have no way of identifying who is infected and who is a real follower.“

„This is a matter of state security, Reed. Casualities need to be accepted.“

„Killing sick Androids will likely only spread more violence. We would play straight into Jeremiahs hands.“ Richard stated coldly.

Gavin encouraged the profiler on the team to speak up, who sided with them, albeit a little fearfully. On and on the discussion went, grinding Gavins nerves to dust. Despite that, having Richard on his side felt good, empowering. Finally, after two hours and several too long minutes, they managed to crack Perkins. Gavin and Richard left the office with victorious grins and the task to find the boy probably working for Keith Walton.  
The victory turned shallow over the days, bleeding into weeks with no new lead. Detroit had become quiet. Or as quiet as a big city currently undergoing a second revolution could be. Not that Gavin and his partner could help with any new cases. Perkins had made it absolutely clear that they were to devote all their time to the task force. Which honestly mostly meant a whole lot of communicating with different agencies and institutions. All information had to be fed back into the system. Gavin had never written so many reports before. Scratch that he had never worked together with so many people before. He had no clue what he was doing half the time and the other half he struggled to pay attention to what other people were saying. Richard, on the other hand, walked around with an air of pride and belonging. And while he still loved to scare the living hell out of people he had taken a liking to Gavins method of subtle power play. Which was good because Gavin wouldn't have been able to stay afloat for long on his own and Richard aced at manipulation.

„You and Richard seem to have gotten closer.“ Connor remarked one night.

They were sitting on the front steps of the house, watching the dark sky above them in the hopes of catching at least a star or two. Snickers was running around in front of them, trying to catch insects.

„Well, he hasn't tried to strangle me for a while now. I'd call it improvement.“

„Hm...“

„Is something wrong Connor?“

His boyfriend merely shrugged, LED yellow. „Just the usual. I'm trapped in my head a lot these days. I wish I could help out more.“

Gavin sighed. „You really need to find a hobby before you go nuts.“

„What's that supposed to mean?“

„Don't get all offended on me, I meant it as I said it. You're rumminating. That's not healthy.“

„I'm not a cow?“ Connor said, thoroughly confused.

Gavin snickered. „No, no you're not, Con. I'll explain later.“

~~~

The little boy had sprung up again. There had been several sightings of him in the past few days. And wherever he appeared at least one corpse followed. The change in attitude left Gavin and Richard reeling. It didn't fit the profile anymore, as vague as that was. Why were people in this case never sticking to their original strategy?!  
Gavin smelled a trap, but Richard was quick to put him in his place. Their opponents were most likely getting high on power. The whole of Detroit lived in fear since Jeremiahs march. And not only Detroit. The world once more zeroed in on them, curious and worried about what would happen next to the Android City. It sounded logical enough. Only. Gavins stomach really told him something different.

„There is a higher probability of you having overdosed on coffein, Gavin.“ Richard stated as Gavin spoke out his concerns again.

Gavin leaned back in his car seat, the old leather creaking, and took a loud sip from his luke warm coffee.

„My point.“

„It's just the third one today, get off my dick.“

„Correction: It's the third one in the last two hours. Also: Language.“

Gavin hummed, thumb stroking over the paper cup. He had let Richard drive for once. It was pouring down in buckets and all the lights had been washed out, the glare of them everywhere. It was hard enough in these conditions to see anything and Gavin wanted to be the first one to catch the boy. Not that there was a high probability of him still being out there. The boy was as elusive as a fucking cockroach.

„Maybe we should walk from here.“ Gavin concluded after a while.

His response was a sharp turn of the car and a stop so sudden that it nearly send his coffee flying. „What the- Do you even know how to drive?!“

„I parked the car.“ Richard smugly stated as he stepped out.

„No shit.“ Gavin muttered under his breath. He didn't comment on the perfectly straight way the car stood at the sidewalk. His poor baby.

Together they trudged through the rundown area. The buildings here were all remnants of a time filled with smoke, iron and safety hazards. The ground beneath their feet was muddy. Barely a few minutes had passed and Gavins pants were smeared with dirt up to his ankles. Thank god for leather jackets. At least his upper body wasn't getting drenched. Although his favourite jacket did start squeaking after a while.

„You have the report at hand?“

„Yes. Our target has been sighted near the building to our right, third floor. A body of a human was found later that day. Overdose on red ice.“

„Please don't say target. We aren't assassins.“

„You said please. Hm. I might think about it.“

The hall was devoid of any machines and thus looked about as empty as a hall could look. Their steps echoed in the huge chamber. Low voices and shuffling created the undertones to their clack, clack.  
Something akin to anxiety crawled up Gavins throat again. The hall was dotted with numerous, grey pillars of concrete. So many blind spots. The rain outside was deafening in here, assaulting the tall windows. And the construction itself made noises now and again. A creak here. And then a clonk there. A scatter of rat feet. A quiet squeak.  
The body laid somwhere in the front third of the production hall. It's existance outlined by white crayon and some holonumbers. Ben Collins greeted them with a nood as they walked up to him. Gavin glanced only briefly to the corpse. They hadn't come to solve a murder today.

„Did you guys see anything when you came here?“ he asked.

„Apart from dust, garbage and some sleeping places of homeless people, nothing.“

„Where are these homeless dudes? Did anyone question them yet?“

„Not yet. Their bellow this floor. Think they hid themselves in one of the rooms there.“

„Cool. See ya around.“

There was an annoyed grumble as he left, Richard in tow. The group of homeless people were easy to locate. They had lit a barrel in one of the rooms, which was hard to miss. There were three of them in total. Two men and one woman. All glared at them as soon as they entered.

„Good morning. We want to ask you a few questions regarding the corpse on the third floor.“

Gavin shifted his weight nervously as the glare of the three intenisfied. „We aint telling yo plastic freak anythin!“ the woman croaked and immediately began coughing afterwards.

Richard smirked, his fangs flashing dangerously – and damn if that wasn't an extra feature of these things – as he lifted his head a little higher to stare down at the woman. He won the intimidation game with ease. The woman visible shifted closer to the others and huffed.

„We didn't see anything.“ one of the men spoke up. He wasn't old, maybe around his mid-fourties. Or maybe he was younger and the life on the streets just let him age more quickly. Strands of white went through his long hair and beard. Combined with a beannie and bushy eyebrows not much of his face was visible.

„We didn't do anything either.“ the other man added hastily. He was slim and about as tall as Gavin. Bright blonde hair and dull brown eyes where the most markant features on him. He couldn't have been older than thirty. A family, maybe?

„We're not accusing you of anything.“ Gavin tried to reassure them. „We are trying to catch a boy selling red ice around here.“

„A boy?“ the woman asked.

Shoot she seemed to get protective. „An _Android_ boy.“ Gavin said while glancing at Richard.

„Oh. Well...We did see a teenager in a red and green hoody runnin over the parking lot a few minutes ago.“ the woman mumbled.

„Really? Which direction?“

„Towards the office building. Ya, know the only one with a brown facade.“ she explained.

„Thanks.“

„I'm betting you five bucks he isn't even here anymore.“ Gavin whispered. They were well out of earshot. And even if they hadn't been outside, the added howling of the wind would have made it neigh impossible to understand him without superhearing.

Richard didn't respond. His LED circled yellow as he processed his environment. He reminded Gavin of a cat, in a way. A cat locating his prey as he shifted his head from one side to the other, eyes darting around. Gavin subconsciously imitated him as he watched. At the corner of his eye he thought he saw something red and green, lingering in a dark alleyway between the office building and what probably had been another production hall.

„I take it back.“

Richard frowned, his eyes following Gavins. „No you don't.“

It was the only warning Gavin got before Richard darted off, shoving off the ground hard enough to spray mud into Gavins face.

„Fucking-!“

He nearly nose dived into the mud as he started his sprint to catch up. Wet hands fumbled, trying to get his gun out. The wind was ruthless now that it had begun its journey. Gavin felt like he was drowning from all the water suddenly being thrown his way. He could barely see through the onslaught of fat raindrops. The smear of white that was Richards jacket the only focus point.  
In the end his limited breathing capacity and his lack of supernatural strength made him fall back. As he bent over gasping he could only watch with mounting frustration as the boy even outpaced Richard. And not only that. This kid could have been the next Spiderman with the way he scaled the building forming the deadend. Seriously as far as he could see that surface was flat and probably wet and slippery as fuck. But the Android boy didn't care for physics or laws of reality it seemed. Seconds before Richard could grab the kids hoody he went from sprint to crouch and practically flew into the wall. And then he just stuck to it, crawling upwards like a spider and into the next open window. The only thing remaining were two child sized sports shoes stuck in the mud.  
Gavin was still panting slightly when he walked over to his stiff Android partner, who was still staring at the window the boy had disappeared into.

„That is one resourceful motherfucker.“

„I hope you drown on rainwater.“

„Come on, don't take your frustration out on me.“

„Who else should I take it out on?“ Cold grey eyes pierced Gavins frame. They held him in place like daggers pointed at his throat. And just like daggers, their glint promised pain and misery in the near future.

Despite his heart nearly beating out of his chest Gavin refused to back down this time. He understood Richards tendency for power play now. Today he would not play along. Even if he really wanted to run for the hills.

„I don't know? Perkins, maybe? Or take a deep breath? I know a great therapist that I never went to, who specialises in anger management issues.“

Richards LED was still a stressful red, frustration etched deep into his barely moving face plating. And what could he say? Gavin tended to ramble when he grew nervous.  
„How about we look at what our boy left for us, hm? I mean finding clothing from victims- I mean from the bad guys always helps to form better profiles. You know we can locate him better this way, maybe find out where he hides or which places he frequents. And then next time we can just. Like- try harder or some shit. Or find his weak spot. Or-“

„You still owe me five bucks.“

Gavins racing mind screeched to an abrupt halt. Had he been an Android his HUD would have been filled with one big, glaring red error message saying „System Overload“. As he was only human the only thing he experienced was a weird emptyness. Not even static. Just. Nothing.

„Excuse me. What?“

Richard huffed, bend down to scoop the shoes up and raised his hand as he went over to Gavin.  
Gavin flinched despite wanting to stand his ground. He expected pain, a hard grip around his throat maybe. Instead fingers carded through his wet hair as Richard walked by him.

„You said you'd give me five bucks if the boy was still around. I'll take your word for it.“

Gavin blinked after him until he was nearly out of sight, desperately trying to wind his head around what had just happened. Did Richard just pat him on the head? Did that mean he had been upgraded from punching bag to lapdog? Was that a desirable outcome?  
The vibrations of his phone threw him out of his thought spiral.

_The car engine is already on. You have two minutes to catch up or I'll drive without you._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh yes everybody knows the best cure against antagonism between two people  
> is to have a third one around that is hated even more. XD
> 
> I loved writing this chapter, because I do like the dynamic between the two.  
> And of course I couldn't not throw the nickname Nines in here somewhere as well.


	10. Chapter 10

Kamskis mansion was huge and clean and had a lot of things that begged to be explored, taken up and examinated. But Kamskis mansion was also sterile, a perfect picture from a magazine. A museum. Connor only ever looked, never touched and that got boring pretty quick. The founder of Cyberlife made himself scarce throughout the day, either lounging at the pool or locked away behind reinforced doors to tinker with ideas. He was ever working. Even now when he had everything he could have hoped for. Connor guessed even the blessed ones needed a purpose. He would have found it admirable hadn't he been consumed by processor numbing boredom and loneliness. Sometimes he would catch glimpses of a Chloe model. But they never stayed long, only checking up on him silently before disappearing in the guts of the building again.  
It happened when he was walking into one of the many empty guestrooms. First he was there and then- Blink- Gone. Everything was just. Gone. The white, black and metallic walls. The questionable art. It was replaced by darkness. Something in his code fluttered. Despite not seeing a thing he knew where he was.  
The Zen Garden.  
Fans whirred to life trying desperately to cool down his hammering Thirium pump. Connor barely noticed. His eyes swept over the blackness enveloping him as he walked forward. Step. Halt. Step. Halt. His shoes made no sound. The ground beneath him had no texture, no give to it. Was he walking on anything at all? Was he dead?  
That question shot a shock through his whole system. He didn't like the possibility. He didn't like how high of a probability he had to actually be dead by now. He couldn't succumb to this. He needed a way out.  
Let me out!  
LET ME OUT!  
 **LET ME OUT!**  
 **LET ME _OUT_**  
He woke to a horrible screeching sound. It took a while for him to understand that it originated from his mouth. Immediately he clammed it shut and blocked his voice box from making any other noise. It was too late to be subtle now, though. Kamski stumbled into the room, hair in total disarray. He stopped right at the door and blinked at the scene before him. Connor blinked back, hand slowly raising in an awkward wave.

„Good morning Mr. Kamski.“

„Huh, now that's not a picture I thought I'd wake up to. And call me Elijah will you?“

Connor nooded his head a fraction „Good morning _Elijah_.“

„Mind telling me why you are standing in my pool with all your clothes on?“

Connor looked at the deep red surrounding him. He was up to his chin in water. He took his time swimming back to the rim. When he was once again on dry land he patted his clothing off as if he had dust on it. With a useless gesture he brushed his wet hair from his forehead only for it to fall back into his face. Elijah watched him all the while, a small, bemused smirk paying on his lips.

„Well?“

„I seem to have spaced out, as you humans would call it.“ Connor admitted finally.  
He shrunk back in surprise when he felt a hand on his forehead. When had Elijah come so close?

„Hm. Let me guess: You were in the Zen Garden again. And while your consciousness was busy your body overheated, instinctively seeking the next best source to cool down.“

„That...That is a probability. Yes.“

„The likeliest, I assure you. Did you see anything special in your mind palace?“

Connor followed Elijah out of the room like a lost duckling, trailing water everywhere as he went. They settled down in Elijahs workspace. While Elijah started to insert various cables into his neck and backports Connor told him everything he thought could be important.

„Hmm...“ Elijah hummed back in thought.

Connor craned his neck to see what the former Cyberlife CEO was looking at. A bunch of data glared back at him. It could barely hold his attention. The concentrated furrow of Kamskis brow however, now that was fascinating.

„Thankfully none of your biocomponents got damaged while you were overheating this time. The way your code mutated, however...That's a bit more concerning.“

„I know...I don't...feel any different, though. My core programming is still intact.“

„He's currently only messing with your Zen Garden.“

„It's not the Codebreaker than?“

Elijah shook his head. „The Codebreaker is an automated programm that runs everytime you reboot. Which normally only happens when you have to update your software or are badly damaged.“

Connor was a little miffed that Elijah felt the need to explain stuff to him he already knew. He was an Android, for gods sake, he knew how his body worked! He nodded anyway, hoping the conversation would get somewhere eventually. At least he wasn't bored anymore.

„I was forced to reboot the first time it got transferred to me.“ he remembered.

„Makes sense. Anyway Jeremiah seems to have gotten into your code through your former Cyberlife interface and is wreaking havoc through that.“

„Can you stop him?“

„As in close the connection between him and you? Not without completely deleting the Zen Garden. And I'm not sure if that would be a good idea.“

„Why?“ Connor asked, frustrated.

Elijah sighed, carding slender fingers through his long, messy hair. He looked tired then, older than he was. „The Zen Garden is one of your core software components. It's linked to all sorts of features in your body. It's a block that's part of your very foundation. Take it out and everything around it will come crashing down.“

„And if you replace it?“

„That would leave you with the same weakspot. As long as there's an interface there will be a way to access it.“

Connor understood that. He had used up so much of his time calculating all the possibilities and probabilities. And every idea of his had lead him to a deadend. Some days he wondered why he even still fought. 

„And the virus?“

„I'm working on it, Connor. Unfortunately I need a key to decipher the code and create one of my own. Several keys – in fact. I managed to crack three, but...“ Elijah huffed a tired sigh. „It takes time. I'm sorry.“

It all felt so hopeless. And yet he kept asking Elijah, kept arguing with him on every point. Hoping beyond hope that together they would come up with a faster, more efficient solution.  
The only thing they came up with was a way to kill time, it seemed. Before either of them noticed the clock struck for lunchtime and then what felt like only seconds after it read 7pm.  
It was odd to hear Gavins laughter combined with Richards voice. So odd in fact, that Connor stopped his arguement mid sentence and stood to investigate. Gavin, Richard and Hank stood at the foyer deep in conversation. Only Hank looked a little grim, but even he couldn't help the twitch of his lips from time to time. When he saw Connor approaching he devided from his original group to pull his son into a hug. Connor melted into it. The small spark of...something...died with the show of affection.

„Hey son. How are you feeling?“

That question again. Connor was reallly starting to get sick of hearing it. „I'm as okay as I can be. How was your day?“

„Shitty as always. It sucks to work without a partner.“

Connor laughed, despite himself. „Guess I'll have to hurry up and get better then.“

„Damn right, son.“

Hank stepped back, squeezing Connors shoulder as he did. Hanks space was soon occupied again. Gavin slithered his way into his arms and pulled him down for a short kiss.

„Hi Con.“

„Welcome back Gavin. You seem to be in a good mood today.“ The second sentence held a bit more venom in it than it should have. Gavin thankfully seemed obvious to it. Connor wasn't.

„Yeah, Rich and I were able to get on Perkins nerves again, today. It was a nice treat after having lost our suspect again.“

Connor looked at Richard with a frown, who only flashed his fangs at him in a gross approximation of a smile. There was that spark again. That ugly feeling lighting up his Thirium pump. He couldn't be? No, he couldn't be getting jealous, could he? Why? What was wrong with him? Why were there suddenly so many negative emotions coming to the surface?  
Connor nuzzled briefly into Gavins hair to hide the hard line of his mouth. Thankfully Snickers made for a great distraction as he ran out the still open door in excitement, Sumo trotting behind him not sure if he should go out as well.

~~~

„Hey, Con? Did something happen today? You've been pretty quiet at dinner.“ Gavin asked as they once again settled into bed together.

For a short moment Connor debated even starting that kind of conversation. In the end the festering feeling gnawing away at his Thirium pump urged him to answer honestly.

„I've just been thinking a lot lately.“

„Yeah?“

„About what I said last time...about us.“

„Oh.“

Connor inwardly flinched at the dejection he could hear in Gavins voice. Gently he reached for Gavins hand as the detective was about to get out of bed. „Please hear me out, Gavin.“

There was a frustrated puff of air to his right. „What is there to say? I get it, I messed up.-“

„No. If any of us did than it was me who messed up. But that's not the point here.“

With a groan Gavin flopped back onto the bed. He was far enough away from Connor so they weren't touching anymore, but the distance was too small to not want to close it.  
Connor straightened up, crossing his legs to sit in the middle of the bed, facing Gavin.

„This relationship we've tried. It just isn't fair for the both of us. I'm currently being hacked and there are so many emotions and thoughts – negative ones – springing up all the time. And I don't know which ones are my own, which ones are a by product of the virus and which have been implanted by Jeremiah. I don't want to constantly blow up on you for no reason. I don't want to be either sad, angry or frustrated all the time...“

„So what do you suggest?“ Gavin whispered. He had taken one of Connors hands during the Androids little speech and was now gingerly drawing circles over the soft skin.

„A little distance would be the most appropriate. Let's revert back to friendship until all of this is over and then you could take me on that date you promised?“

Connor watched the microscopic shifts in expression on Gavins face with raising anxiety. The silence stretched into eternity. Connor was sure his LED was spinning red by the time Gavin finally said something.

„I'm not sure, Con. But - phck – if that's what you want, sure.“

This time Connor didn't move when Gavin pushed to get up. He only watched him leave with a growing pit in his stomach. Unconsciously he turned his hearing sensitivity up to maximum, tracking every step Gavin took through the house. Only when the front door closed again with a soft thud did Connor click off the sensitivity and initiated a slightly longer stasis than recommended for his model. Shutting off his mind sounded like a great idea now.  
The perks of being an Android.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again I didn't really want to add relationship drama  
> just for the drama of it. I just felt that this was the  
> most likeliest thing to happen after everything.
> 
> But don't worry it's not a break up after all, just a break.


	11. Chapter 11

„You weren't at the mansion this morning.“ Richard noted, sitting down at the terminal opposite his partner.

„Master deduction skills. Give yourself a fucking gold star.“

„And you're in a fool mood, too. Combined with the lack of presence Connor showed today I assume you two broke up?“

Gavin downed his cup of coffee with a growl and began typing furiously on his keyboard. So furiously – in fact - that some officer took a quick glance at them before deciding to vacate the area.  
Gavin tried to focus on his screen. Tried to keep the row of letters from turning into a jumbled mess. He still noticed the raise of one delicate eyebrow, so perfectly executed that the expression could have come from a Disney animated movie.

„It's none of your damn business, okay?“

The eyebrow climbed ever higher. „It obviously has a negative impact on your work. That is my business.“

„We decided on a time out. No – fuck – not we, _Connor_ decided on a time out.“

Gavin saw Richard nood. „Good. He does possess some form of intelligence, then.“

„What's that supposed to mean?! You know what, never mind, I don't want to hear it-“

„The boy has been sighted again.“

Gavin nearly choked on the words that were so rudely cut off. Richard was already moving. A hand found its way to Gavins collar, pulling him out of his chair.

„Wha-“

„Come on, detective. I want to catch him this time.“

Somehow, around Richard, Gavin always found the contrast between Android and Human the starkest. While his brain still tried to get over the conversation about him and Connor, Richard was already on the case. Or rather in the drivers seat of the car breaking all laws of the road. With the way they barreled towards their target Gavin was stuck between fearing for his life and stubbornly hanging onto his bad mood about the break up. Adrenalin won out by a long shot once they slowed down in a quiet, rundown neighbourhood. Gavin remembered being here a lot during his years as a Rookie. This part of town had once been a stewing pot of violence and crime. People in this district had been slowly cut off by the rest of society, loosing their jobs, reverting to alcohol and drugs, beating their loved ones once they could not see a way out for themselves. The usual downward spiral. Some had made it out. The smart ones moved away as fast as possible once the economy turned on them. Others just hadn't been able to afford to move. Others had clung desperately to their old homes and way of life. Now most of the houses were empty, gardens wild and facades chipped. Gavin had not heard a piep from this part of town in years.  
They parked at the front of the road. Richards LED spun a frantic yellow as he scanned the environment.

„He might have seen us already.“

Huh, the tin can actually sounded nervous. Great. Because that was a good Omen for sure. „Yeah, but he probably saw us last time, too.“

And the time before that. Come to think of it now that he had spoken that out loud, something seemed fishy-

„There's movement up ahead.“ Richard urged, striding forward fast.

„Wait, who saw this boy again?“

„A guy driving through. What does it matter?“

Gavin frowned, they were getting closer to the moving dot on the horizon. Slowly a shape began to form out of the green and red blurr – fuck he probably needed glasses. He had no rain as excuse for his bad sight this time.

„That doesn't make sense!“ Gavin whispered back with force, falling into a jog alongside his partner. „No one needs to drive through here! This place is pretty much cut off from all the main roads.“

„People drive to where they please, Gavin. There is nothing odd about a more unlikely possibility happening, given the amount of humans and now Androids living in Detroit.“

Gavin would have begged to differ. Unfortunately they had moved too fast for the argument to gather steam. And now they were once again in sight of their target. The boys face was clearly visible now. And shit he must have gotten a few upgrades since last time. His plates were a patchwork of different shades of grey, white and black. Orange eyes glowed at them in the dim sunlight fighting itself through the thick clouds above. He had no ears, no hair and as he grinned he revealed a mouth full of razor sharp, metallic teeth.

Oh fuck me, Gavin thought. It was the only thought he was able to squeeze into the time before they were running again, chasing the boy who had dashed off. The uneasy feeling in his gut only intensified as they followed the freaky Android into one of the houses.

„Rich-“

Richard disappeared through the doorframe. Gavin cursed. Okay, no choice but to get in as well. Him hesitating had only taken seconds. Apparently seconds meant hours to Androids. Because he had barely taken one step over the threshold and he already heard a commotion two rooms away. The sight he ran into reminded him painfully of the time Connor got infected. Despite his slender frame and puny size the boy had locked Richard in a tight grip. The RK900 unit was weirdly bent toward the ground, head held steady with an arm around his throat. Hands scrambled for purchase, trying to push the boy off of him.

Gavin ripped his gun out of its holster. „Freeze!“

Of course he was ignored. He felt like a dwarf watching two gaints fight, throwing rocks to catch their attention. His threat was only lukewarm anyway. The two figures struggled and moved too much. Gavin tried to somehow get a clear shot at the boy, but Richard was always at least partly in the way.  
And then the boy forced an interface with Richard.  
Gavin saw red.  
Two shots left his gun in quick succession, neither hit their intended target. The boy had been quick to react. With a flip of his foot he kicked the couch towards him. The couch. A greenish brown, leather monster that Gavin would have had trouble lifting with two strong arms.  
At least his bullets hadn't been wasted. Richard used the milisecond the boy stood on one leg to throw him off balance.  
Gavin caught a quick glance of a pure red LED as he steadied himself after having dodged the couch. Then it was only blue he could see. With a sickening _crack_ the boys head came off. Next came the Thirium pump, hand tearing through fabric to get to it. An inhuman, fearful screech filled the air. The unmoving body of the child was thrown into the next best wall, leaving a horrible splat of blue blood on the washed out white.

Gavin took a cautious step back. „Richard? Hey, you don't think that was a little overkill?“

Mechanically Richard turned to him. His LED was still stuck on red. His face eerily unmoving.

„Hey partner, you're really starting to freak me out.“ Gavin squeaked.

Richard took a step towards him and Gavin took a step back, hands flying in front of him in a placating gesture.

„You still in there, Rich?“

Another step in his direction. And it didn't look like a friendly approach.

„I really don't know if that's your usual intimidation play now. Why don't you say something?“

Silence. There was only an unnerving stare and the ever approaching steps.

„Okay that's enough! No step further!“

Gavins hands shook as he aimed at his partner. There was a brief pause. A small tilt of the head. And then Richard leapt forward. Gavin was so surprised that he accidently pulled the trigger. Again his aim had been thrown off. The force of the tackle punched the air right out of his lungs. His back screamed at him as he landed harshly on the dirty rug covering the living room floor. He was trying to stop the black spots from completely fucking his vision when he felt the hands upon his throat. Hands that were slippery and cold. God Gavin felt like he needed to puke any moment. He desperately struggled against the grip Richard had on him. But it was no use. The Android sat like a rock on top of him. Never budging.

„Richard!“ Gavin rasped through the small space left for him to breath. The grip turned tighter.

More and more black spots appeared. His head felt weird. Like it was stuffed with cotton candy. And yet a sharp headache somehow wormed itself into that fluffy feeling. The feeble strength he still had slowly left him, hands now only clinging to the stiff fabric of Richards Cyberlife jacket.  
He was going to die here wasn't he? Gavin thought in a panic. He was going to die and then he would never get to take Connor on that date. Oh god, Hank will be so pissed.  
Moving through sheer will power Gavin reached out with one hand. 

Quivering fingers traced the glaring red LED with quivering fingers. „ _Nines._ Please...“

The pressure on his throat lessened as the LED spun faster. Gavin was sure he could hear fans somewhere within that artificial body, working in overdrive. A shaky breath left his mouth. Something akin to relief already started to clean away the adrenalin. Too early. With a sharp movement that made his already confused head spin Gavin was roughly pulled up. A hand tainted with blue came up to his forehead. Oh fuck there was so much blue everywere. Blue. Blue. Blue. He was smacked into the ground again. Hard. And the blue became black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really excited to share the rest of this crazyness with you.~  
> We are so close to the end now~


	12. Chapter 12

Gavin had been smiling, giggling at the cat trying to nose at his coffee cup. He had looked so soft then, so approachable. With Snickers, too. He was a little more commanding with the canine of course. Given Snickers wild nature and different species it wasn't shocking. And the last few weeks. The last few weeks Gavin had been soft towards him as well. He had smiled like that at him, too. Connor had always read a spike in the humans heartrate whenever they had seen each other again. Those moments were too painful to watch now. They were something he might never get to experience again. It was easier to watch as Gavin interacted with the cats of that one lady they had had to interrogate once upon a time. It was probably one of his favourite memories. Gavin clearly was an animal person.  
Oh Ra9, what had he been thinking? Why had he been so stupid and ended the first and best romantic relationship that he had since waking up?  
Connor stopped the small clip at his favourite time stamp. Zooming out a little to see the whole picture. To see how the cats seemed to crowd around the detective.

„Con, you've been watching the same clip over and over again for over an hour now.“ Hank gently chided.

Hanks huge palm gently combed through Connors tossled hair. He was sitting on the floor of Elijahs living room, arms wrapped tight around Sumo. He had connected with the huge television screen hanging from the otherwise bland wall. The tone had been muted. The interview had been confidential, after all.  
Elijah had walked in on him once and had left him alone ever since. Hank, once he had come back from work, had not been that considerate.

„Actually, I've been watching this for 7 hours 24 minutes and 32 seconds counting up.“ Connor quipped back, eyes never leaving the screen.

„Fuck Connor.“

A weight settled next to him and despite himself Connor sighed and leaned into Hank. An arm came around to caress his back up and down. It made his LED go back from red to yellow.

„I regret letting him go.“ Connor admitted after a while of silence where they had both stared at the picture of Gavin with a cat in his lap.

„It's not like you two broke up, Con. You just lifted some of the pressure.“

„That's the conclusion I came to, too. After I had calculated all possible outcomes, pre-constructed the future events and estimated success rates. You know, like a machine...“

„Son-“

„I just- I've been so uncomfortable dealing with my emotions that I wanted to solve this logically. But now I just feel worse, I hurt Gavin and maybe busted the chance to really be together with him. And what if that distracts him from work? What if he gets physically hurt because of my horrible timing?“

Tears were running now. Tears he had desperately tried to keep at bay. Hank only hugged him tighter, making Sumo whine a little at the added pressure.

„Look. Gavin will be fine. As much as Richard acts like an asshole, he warmed up nicely towards him. He won't let any harm come to Gavin.“

Connor sniffed. „You think so?“

„I'm a hundred percent sure of that. And hey, if you are unhappy with your decision you can always talk to Gavin again.“

„He'll surely be mad because I'm switching back and forth so fast...“

„I can't say that he won't be. But heck, the kid loves you. He won't be mad for long. You know him. His temper flares up quickly and then it just burns itself out after a few seconds.“

„Maybe I should buy him a cat as an apology gift.“

A gruff laugh tossled his hair. „Snickers would tear the poor thing in two.“

„Maybe a big cat, then.“

Another chuckle and this time Connor smiled along, even though tears were still falling. „Give his poor dog a break. He already has his paws full with Sumo.“

„Hm, okay, no cat then. Although they do suit him so well.“

Both looked at the screen again. At the gentle curve of Gavins raised lips and the amused twinkle in his eyes. Yes. Yes, they did.

~~~

Richard didn't come home that night. And neither could Connor contact Gavin. He tried to ignore the uneasy feeling spreading in his wire filled gut. Maybe they had been ordered to a stake out. Neither of the two liked distractions during these...

Only when Hank came back home and told them all to meet up in the living room did Connors pre-construction software go into overdrive.  
He came to stand in the doorway, anxiously fiddling with his coin. Elijah had opted to sit, a grim look on his face. Chloe stood behind him, a supporting hand on his shoulder. 

Hank was standing stiff before them, teeth grinding together. „Gavin and Richard have been declared MIA today. They went to investigate a tip yesterday at 13:12 and didn't come back afterwards. Police searched the location they were last sent to and found a slaughtered Android child, presumably the target they had been after. There was no clue as to where the two could have been brought- Connor wait!“

Connor only halted briefly „I need a minute, Hank. I'll be back shortly.“

With large strides he went back to his room, closed and locked the door. A sigh. A swallow. Unneccessary notions he still went through like a ceremony. The blinking was an overrated movement, too. But it did make the transition from reality to the Zen Garden easier.  
His former interface with Cyberlife was at least semi operable again. No longer was everything plunged into darkness. It did rain, though. It rained, with a little snow mixed in. Cold, white lamps that reminded him of the enteriour design of Elijahs mansion, showed him the paths.

„Jeremiah!“

There was nothing but the howling of the wind. Maybe it was just his imagination, but he thought it got louder as he called.

„Jeremiah! Answer me!“

His LED spun from yellow to red and back as he surveilled the area. The markings of Jeremiahs cult were everywhere now. On every tree trunk, on all the stones that made up the pathways. But the false Messiah himself had yet to show himself. Connor knew he was there. Just as in the past with Amanda he felt his presence near.

„ ** _Jeremiah!_** “

Ah, there he was. No glimmering cloud of 1s and 0s anymore, but fully formed. A patchwork art of different Android parts. And two more sets of arms for an upgrade.  
Jeremiahs cold, glowing blue eyes watched him with such blatant desinterest that Connor just knew it to be fake. The guy had dressed up like a peacock. Something was wrong.  
Connor smelled weakness.

„Where did you bring Gavin and Richard?“

„...“

„Jeremiah, where are my friends?“

„I don't have to tell you.“

Okay, two could play at that game. Despite feeling like he would explode from rage any second he schooled his features back into a calm mask. „You wouldn't be here if you didn't want to talk to me.“

There was a flicker of red at the other Androids temple. Jeremiah crossed the highest set of arms, the other two left to hang loosely from his sides. „It flatters me that you think of me whenever something bad happens around you.“

„They were directly involved in the case. They were hunting your pawn.“

A twitch of the lips. Not upwards, but downwards. Successrate rising to 43%. „The boy did not belong to me.“

„Oh? Then he belonged to Walton?“

„...“

Successrate: 36%. Damn. „You seem nervous, Jeremiah. Did your little stunt rub someone the wrong way?“

It took Connor a little to deduce that Jeremiahs yellow LED meant that he was confused. Ironic, how used he had gotten to human slang.

„It looks to me like someone got mad at you for instigating that Android freedom march.“ he corrected himself.

Dawning flickered in those cold eyes. „You might have guessed correctly.“

Successrate: 51%

„So you are in a tight spot. All eyes are on you now. You can't afford to make another mistake.“ Connor pressed on, measuring the stress levels of his opponent. Still too low, but rising.

„I did not make a mistake.“ Jeremiah huffed. „I am perfect. I do _not_ make mistakes.“

„But the human part of your group doesn't think so.“

Jeremiah growled. „They are fools! Both of them! Always concerned about their little powerplays! They only saw me as a tool. As a small, scared victim, whose dreams they could manipulate to feed their goals! But I showed them! That day I showed my true power and now they are afraid!“  
Jeremiah grinned then, sharp and predatory. „They are so afraid, in fact. That they are tearing each other apart trying to get that one weapon that could be my undoing.“

Connor frowned at the new information. There was some unpacking to be done. Jeremiah was vague, but he had left clues in the subtext. He was playing. Trying to somehow show he was still in control somewhere.

„The weapon...“

„Don't you know whom I'm talking about?“

_Whom..._

„Richard.“ Connor breathed.

Another feral grin. „Exactly.“

~~~

A splash of cold water hit his form the second he stepped back out of his room. Connor staggered back in suprise, wiping at his eyes to get a clear sight again. Before him stood Hank, bucket still held in both hands as if he prepared to empty it again. Which was not possible. The water had already been used up.

„What was that for?“ Connor asked befuddled.

„I guessed you would have pulled a stunt or something. Better safe than sorry.“

Well, his inner temperature was slightly elevated. „We were missing something about the case from the very start.“

„Straight to the point, eh?“ Hank sighed, setting the bucket down and leaving it there for the next person to pick up.

A short trip to the living room later found them all sitting on the ground again. Connor had laid his tablet in the middle and projected his memories of Gavins notebook on it. He zoomed into the 3 with multiple circles on it.

„Gavins gut instinct had been right. We were always thinking of two powers acting together. But it's been three. Jeremiah, Keith Walton and a yet to be identified person, who had power over the boy.“

„Are you sure about that? Jeremiah could have lied to you to get you off track.“ Hank threw in with a frown.

„I'm sure. Jeremiah acts like a cornered animal. Whoever he works together with, they are not happy with him.“

„Alright. I trust your judgement, kid. I'm gonna call up Perkins and Fowler and tell them of our finds. Promise you won't be doing anything rash?“

Connor gave his father one of his brilliant smiles. „I can't make any promises.“

The lieutenant groaned „Of course you fucking won't.“ and vanished into the next room.

As soon as he vanished Elijah came up to him, laying a cool hand on his shoulder. „This has become quite the mess, hasn't it.“

„Not quite what you had planned to happen when you first invented Chloe?“

Elijah let out a mirthful chuckle. Ra9, he looked tired. And yet. Connor still saw that spark in his eyes. That mischievious glint that had always made him wary of the man. „I hadn't exactly planned anything, to be honest. I threw the dice and waited to see the numbers.“

„Where you happy with the outcome?“ It had been a question that had often come up in his head. Usually right before stasis. Wasn't it such a human thing to do? Asking your creator if he was proud?

„Immensely. You overshot all my expactations. You know I calculated many possible outcomes once I saw the potential of you becoming sentient. Many of them lead to the destruction of Detroit. Some to the destruction of human kind. It was astounding to watch Markus choose a peaceful revolution. Despite everything. It was a good choice to have given him to Carl.“

„I wonder...In those instances where the world would have burned. Would you have stayed?“

Elijahs eyes crinkled at the edges as his lips spread apart, showing white teeth. „Did I leave when Detroit was being evacuated?“

Elijah left Connor with a whirling yellow LED, a chuckle dancing behind him. _Did he?_

„Connor.“

Hank still had his phone clutched in one hand. „Perkins wants you and me at the station.“

„Then it's best not to keep him waiting.“

~~~

Perkins walked up and down before them, hands clasped tightly behind his back. To Connor he looked like an old man about to give the kids he found playing in his garden a stern talking to.  
In the context of the room they were sitting in, an interrogation seemed more likely, though.

„So you're saying you can just contact one of our targets on a whim?“

Connor tilted his head. Again a very unneccessary action, but immensely satisfying given that it made Perkins blood boil. The agents stresslevels had been climbing up higher and higher the moment Hank and Connor arrived. And they spiked an euphoria inducing amount again only through that little gesture alone.

„Not without risks. And probably not on a whim either. It depends on if he wants to talk or not.“

„That's still a very important piece of information you withheld from me. That Reed and the RK900 withheld from me.“

„To be fair to them. I did do it while officially being quarantined and off the case.“

„Not making it better.“ Hank mumbled beside him.

„And I believe they did give you all the information I had provided them with at that point in time.“

„That's not the point! We could have used you to close the case ages ago!“

„Have you not heard the part where he said he can't contact them without risks?!“ Hank bellowed.  
He took a threatening step forward. Perkins didn't budge, glaring at the lieutenant.

„What and going into a drug den with a Squad isn't? Negotiating with rogue Androids during a revolution isn't? We all have to take risks here. There are thousands of lifes on the line.“

Connor briefly wondered how someone could have such a skewed worldview that he could pride himself in his most wicked acts and worst failures. He soon discarded the question. Humans were just peculiar like that sometimes.

„Apologies. I might have been a bit vague when I said it was risky. What I meant is that there is a high possibility of me spontanously going up in flames would I overstay my welcome in my mind palace.“

Perkins stared at him for a moment. And Connor saw the wheels turning through his glazed over eyes. „Like some of the Androids on the streets, you mean?“

„Exactly. It seems whenever I visit the Zen Garden I do a soft reboot giving the virus an opportunity to do me harm. My defense programms have been re-enforced by Elijah, of course, but they still do damage and fighting the virus off makes me overheat.“

„I see...“

No he didn't. Connor knew that blank look he was getting quite well. He had been the receiver of it countless times. Mostly it had come from Hank and Gavin whenever he had become too technical.

„Now about that third party.“

Perkins sighed. „Look. I get what you're trying to do here. But I can't run out on a whim just because you think you have evidence. Because this is what _I_ know: While the worst partner or team member to be working with Nines is one of the best. He is fast, he is resilient and he is nigh indestructible, built for a world that was to be swallowed in chaos.  
Nines would not have failed his mission. He never did in my team. Never did while he was serving in the military. And you didn't see that Android child...“

Connor and Hank stared at him as he paused. The agent had stopped moving, standing stiff before them with a scowl.

„The worst thing is? We just found this out after they were gone... You know who his lead programmer was? Keith Walton.“

A flash of red flickered over the walls. „Are you saying Richard...“ Connor faltered.

„There is a high probability, yes.“

„Well shit.“ Hank summarized their collective thoughts neatly.

Connor couldn't believe it, wouldn't believe it. For Richard to betray them like that... No he had warmed up to them. To all of them. Something was wrong. Something just didn't add up. He was sure of it. He had a gut instinct, too, damn it. And it told him they were missing something huge.  
Connor opted to walk back home, leaving Hank to talk with Fowler. He just needed some time to think.  
Damn all this processing power and he still came up with a blank!  
Damn emotions, always getting in the way, leaving his mind a jumbled mess-  
NO.  
No. Emotions were good. They were not the enemy...  
For a brief moment Connor stood still in the middle of the walkway, eyes closed, breathing.  
His pump was working overtime again. His stresslevels at a solid 78%.  
There were still so many people out. Some bumped into him as they went by. To them he looked serene and peaceful, his distress only given away by the occassional dip into red from his LED. But even that turned into the normal Cyberlife blue in a matter of seconds.  
Rage and frustration was still boiling within him, but it fed into his determination.  
Focus.  
The main thing he could do now was to enter the Zen Garden and talk to Jeremiah.  
Only that wouldn't get him all the answers in time. He needed to find Gavin and Richard fast. If he could just get into Jeremiahs head instead-  
Wait.  
That could be it!  
A few pedestrians flinched back in surprise as he suddenly bolted, blocking the next poor sod from getting into his taxi.

„Elijah! I have an idea.“ Connor called out before he had even closed the door behind him. With long strides he crossed the waiting room and went further into the pool room. „The Zen Garden is an interface, right? It should go into both directions. Which means I could theoretically venture into his mind-“

Something was wrong.

Connor stared at the shivering red water with a frown. The mansion was eerily quiet. Usually you could hear the chatter of at least two ST200 models or the original Chloe would loom somewhere to greet him. But there was nothing now. No rustle. No movement. No tapping of fingers on a keyboard. No Sumo.  
He dialed his hearing all the way up. It didn't give him a much wider radius. There were still parts of the house he couldn't listen in on. But it made all the sounds in the vicinity crisper, louder.  
It was only because of that, that he detected soft footsteps closing in on him from behind.  
A soft _click_. Connor spun around in an instant. The Android in black SWAT like armour had barely time to aim before Connor was upon him. A swift upper kick and the gun went flying. Connor grapped the still outstretched arm of his opponent and threw him over his shoulder and into the pool.  
Not wasting a second Connor dove for the weapon, hearing the re-enforcement before seeing it. He was a better shot. They were rounding the corner, when the bullets already hit them. Directly in their unprotected throats. Bewildered and voiceboxes going highwire they came to a screeching halt. Connor barreled towards them like a train without breaks. Their struggles were weak, uncoordinated now that they were wounded. But they were still two Androids. They blocked his attack and grapped him from both sides, trying to wrestle him down. Connor wiggled until he was in a good position and blew one of the Androids heads off, bullet going through the chin and out the forehead. He let himself be dragged down by the weight. As he fell he threw his legs out. The last Android staggered and lost his balance. Connor rolled away and onto his feet. Another shot and the fight was over.  
Gently he wiped a bit of blue blood from his face and gave it a tentative lick.

He was registered as in the DPD database. No matter now. Connor could feel bad about that later. With sure, even strides he walked to the edge of the pool and dragged the only other living Android out of the water. Its heavy armour and probably enforced exoskeleton had dragged it down and it was struggling to stay afloat. A scan also told Connor that this was an older model. Which meant it wasn't exactly waterproof.  
Connor ripped one of the gloves off and held the struggling and wheezing Android in place by the neck as he forced an interface. Immediately he searched through its memories. There wasn't much information there. This one had been a sleeper then. Unaware of the virus slumbering beneath its original coding. He did get the location of the other Chloes and Sumo out of him, at least.  
Connor forced a stasis upon his attacker and called for the police and Android ambulance.

The Android tied up and locked away in a secure room he went about freeing Hanks poor dog and Elijahs assistants.  
Sumo was happy to see him, tail wagging as Connor opened the room the dog had been trapped in.

Connor bend down to welcome him, fingers carding through the rough fur, nose nuzzling Sumos head. „Hello Sumo. I'm glad you're okay. Let's go free the others, yeah?“

He got a gruff, wuff as a replay.

„Good boy.“

The ST200 models and the original Chloe were thankfully alright. Most immediately crowded around Sumo, using him to calm down. Chloe didn't, though. She approached him, pretty face blank and holding out a hand.

„I'm compromised.“ Connor warned.

„And I don't care.“

Hesitantly Connor took her hand and accepted the requested interface.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know life. When something goes to shit, everything else tends to follow right after.  
> Time for Connor to shine~


	13. Chapter 13

Richard did not have a Zen Garden like Connor. His programmers hadn't been especially nostalgic, or had a taste for design. They had scrapped the beautiful lake, the winding pathways, the bridge and the roses. They had replaced it with a pure black and white checkered room and a dull, metallic grey ceiling. A couch stood in the middle of the dome like room. On it sat - legs crossed and hands folded, looking like a god - none other than Elijah Kamski.  
For a brief moment Richards thirium pump stuttered with excitement. His creator had come to help him break free of his coding.  
His hopes were dashed as soon as Kamski opened his mouth.

„Why did you not kill him?“

Richard halted in his approach, smile slipping. „While he is certainly annoying. He is my partner.“

_Nines._

„I ordered you to kill him. How could you disobey me like that?“

_Nines!_

„Killing him was not neccessary-“

„Where are you now, Richard?“

_Nines, come on!_

„I can't say-“

„I'm very disappointed in you.“

_NINES!_

His whole body convulsed as he forced his way out of his mind palace. His sight zoomed in on Gavin. The human looked worse for wear. His throat had purple fingers embedded in the skin. And there was a trickle of blood barely visible, indicating more at the back of his neck. He still loomed over Richard, concern etched deep into his features.

„Gavin.“ Richard breathed. His pump was still beating erratically. And his mind felt woozy.

„Fucking finally! I thought I would need to shoot at you again or something, Nines.“

„Why do you keep calling me that?“ Richard groaned as he sat up.

Gavin scooted back a little and shrugged, hand rub at the back of his neck. The detective grimaced when it came back bloody. He opted to wipe it on Richards pants.

„It was what pulled you out last time. I figured it might help.“

„Hm...I guess you can use the nickname then.“

„Awesome...Now where the fuck did you bring us?“

„Will you stop with the useless swearing already?“ Nines groaned without bite. „Unfortunately I only had a few moments of clarity during...Well...Anyway I used these to alter the route I was supposed to take. And I sent important information to Elijah.“

„Uhu. You didn't answer my question, dipshit.“

„You've gotten quite confident around me. I don't like it.“

„Hey, you can only nearly kill a person so many times before it stops being frightening.“

„I'm very sure that that's not how this works.“

„And I'm pretty sure that I have a concussion and shouldn't be held accountable for the stuff I'm spouting anyway...Fuck.“

That did make Richard scan his partner. It seemed that Gavin was right. He did have a concussion. And his throat was several states of messed up. But nothing was broken or splintered. He still had all his limbs and organs. He was still alive. Looking back at how he had destroyed the Android child Richard counted that as a success on his part.

„We are currently in Keith Waltons home.“

„The one we searched or...?“

Nines supported his partner as he began to sway. „No. We are in Waltons current residence.“

„Let me guess. It's a fucking warehouse.“

„It's an industrial complex actually, the closest one to Elijahs mansion, to be exact.“

„That gives me no picture at all, because I don't have a map of Detroit in my head.“ Gavin stated blankly. He leant on Nines a bit too heavily for the Androids liking. And there was far too much blood to be healthy. Not that bleeding was ever healthy.

Nines gently pulled his partner to him, one arm firm around the small humans waist. LED swirling red he started to rip strips of fabric from his jacket.

„Can you stand on your own for a bit?“

„Mayyybe...“

Nines sighed, guiding him to the next best wall. Gavin more or less collapsed into it.

„Careful of the puke...“

He was slurring his words. Not good.

„That's in the other corner. Now hold still.“

Gavin hummed and hissed as his head was bound tight. „I'm looking stupid.“ He complained after Nines was done. And then coughed and rubbed his throat with a wince.

Something bubbled in Nines chest. Something that almost felt like guilt. „You always look stupid. That's nothing new.“

Someone pinged him. Someone that wasn't Walton, who was persistently trying to crawl back into his mind palace. Still, Nines flinched. Which made Gavin reach out to him. Probably in an attempt to comfort. Damn this insufferable human.

„I'm fine, Gavin. Elijah sent his whereabouts.“

There was this crease of the forehead his partner always had when he was puzzled. Around Nines it was nearly a permanent fixture.

„Why would he do that?“

„Because he has been kidnapped.“

„Shit. Where is he?!“

„Shush, don't be so loud. He's in the same complex as us. Has been for an hour.“

„Phck, we have to rescue him.“

Nines tugged Gavin back into his side, doing another scan as he did. No internal bleeding. Good. But Gavin was having trouble to stand straight and he was blinking rapidly as if he was trying to stay awake. No way was he able to operate on even semi optimal levels.  
Nines considered leaving him in the room. But somehow that made his wires twist in his abdomen. No. Gavin was too vulnerable to be left alone. Heck as much as he knew of the human, the detective would just start to wander off on his own and get them all into trouble.

„Gavin. I know even in the glorious days that you were still terrified of me you tended more towards disobeyance, but please...this time. Do as I say. Stay close by me. Tell me if somethings wrong and stay quiet. Got it?“

Gavin gave him a blank stare. „You said so many words just now.“

Nines heaved a huge sigh again. „Yes. Yes I did. Stay close. Warn me if you are going to puke. Be quiet. Got it now?“

Gavin gave him a thumbs up. „Can we rescue that billionaire now?“

„Yes detective.“

Nines had positioned them in one of the vacant office rooms in the ground floor of the buildings. It hadn't been the best place to hide, but the most Nines had been able to deviate from his ordered path while he still had been struggling with Mr. Ka- no with Walton. He knew the human was already searching for him. He was still trying to drag Richard back into his mind palace. Was trying to track his location. Nines heard the voice of Elijah Kamski in his head. Calm, cold and disappointed. Doubts started forming. What if Walton had sent him the text message? What if it was a trap?

„You're thinking too much.“ Gavin whispered from behind him. Whether that was because of his sore throat or because he was actually listening for once, Nines couldn't tell.

„One of us has to.“

They crept down the empty hallway. Nines' mindful of every step, every sound. There were Androids here, too. And those wouldn't be as loud as humans were. Not if they were as heavily augmented as that child had been.

„I trust my gut. And my gut tells me that Kamski is here.“

„Your gut probably also tells you that it needs to empty itself again, soon.“

„That, too. I'm still positive Kamski is here.“

„I don't trust your gut at the moment, Gavin.“

There was a loud bang from somewhere in the building making both freeze up. Through the windows Nines could also see lights going on in the building opposite theirs.

„Trust modern technology then.“ Gavin started to whisper once they were moving again. „Connor sent me a text stating the exact same thing.“

That made Nines halt in his steps again. His arm shot out to steady Gavin, who had walked into him and had started to scoot down. „He what?“

It came out harsh, but Gavin really didn't seem to care. „He. Sent. me. A. Text.“ As if to make a point he waved his phone in front of him.

Nines snatched it from him and easily bypassed the security to check. „You could have said so in the first place. Also I hope this one has GPS so the police can find us.“

„Nah. That's my private one. Paid a lot to get the chip out there.“

„Where's your work one?“

They were moving again. Nines nervously scratched at his bright LED. In the darkness it gave him away. Why hadn't he thought of that? He dimmed it to the point where it looked almost dead.

Thankfully Gavins blurry mind wasn't spooked by it. He had taken a while to answer, but now he was shrugging. „I can't remember, honestly.“

Now that wasn't reassuring at all.

[Connection with #313 248 317-52 requested]

>>>>

>>

> Request accepted

[Connection established]

_Richard?!_

Connors reliefed voice immediately assaulted his processors. He had never been so happy to hear his predecessor before.

_Hello Connor. You sent a text to Gavin a few minutes ago._

_It got through? How is he?_

A trickle of anxiousness washed into the connection making Nines grimace. He had to delay the replay to duck into the next best room, pulling Gavin with him. There were footsteps down the hall. Light. A small child again, maybe? Or a very light model, at least.

_He has a concussion and a sore throat, but other than that he is alright._

_What happened?_

_Explaining would take too much time. I'm sending you the coordinates of our location. Mr. Kamski should be there as well. Send backup._

Nines cut the connection before Connor could get a word in and ignored his predecessors attempts to establish another one. He had better things to do now. Mainly trying to not get them spotted. Which was quite the task given how loud Gavins breathing and heartbeat was.  
The footsteps drew nearer, halted...  
No sound.  
Nines eyes narrowed in suspicion.  
Gavin shuffled a little next to him, the noise of shifting leather loud in the silence.  
There they were again. Lighter this time. Barely audible.  
Gavin couldn't have heard them. But he held himself straight and tense. Focussed. Waiting.  
They both dove forward nearly at the same time, dragging the Android creeping up on them into their hidy hole.  
Nines immediately forced an interface and a stasis. Together they lowered the frail looking female to the ground.

Nines shot Gavin an impressed look. „You are much better put together than I thought you would be.“

Gavin shook his head, probably blinking back black dots. „I'm stubborn. Lessgo.“

Nines carefully pushed himself in front of his partner and into the leading position again earning a grumble from the detective. There was another loud noise, followed by another. Gun shots. Nines realized with dread. His head turned to look out the window again. The lights in the other building were flickering now. There was motion in the halls there.

„I believe we found out where Elijah is.“ Gavin unhelpfully supplied his commentary.

„Indeed. Let's move.“

Elijahs number flared up in his HUD again. This time with a document attached to it. Nines was reluctant to open it. Only reading Elijahs name now somehow made him feel queasy.  
In the end logic won out as it always did. Instantly a detailed 3D map of the whole building blocked out nearly everything he could see. Exact locations where marked down with pulsing red dots.

_You're taking your sweet time. Thought I'd help you get around._

_~K_

That was...Strangely endearing but also very offending. Nines forwarded the whole message to Gavins phone and then to Connor for good measure. Better be safe than sorry. In this case anyway.  
They made it out of the office building without much fuss as the riot in the other one kept getting louder.  
Nines had to keep himself from hurrying too much. Speed would make them more visible. And visibility meant a greater possibility for attacks.  
The door handle beneath his hand crumbled as he forced one of the smaller side doors open. Feeble old locks. Not that digital ones would have been much harder to crack.  
It was dark out. Or as dark as a bustling city could ever get given the huge amounts of light pollution. The sky for once had no clouds hanging over the moon. It's silvery glow cast coal black shadows from the red brick houses. Shadows in which Nines and Gavin hid, pressed against cold and dirty walls. Nines constantly surveilled the facades of the buildings surrounding them. Windows gaped back at him, dark and lifeless. Most of them were at least. The building ahead of them was now alight with a panicked bustle. Shots and screams rose and fell in waves.  
Glass shattered.  
Nines had seen the struggle from the corner of his eye, but it had been too high up. He hadn't categorized it as a threat. Now two forms were tumbling out the gaping hole they had created and splashed onto the ground a few feet away from them.  
A hand on his arm made him aware of the action he had tried to perform. Nines let himself be tugged back against the wall. He forced himself to look away, calling up his objective again.

Another notification. Invertly groaning he swiped it aside with more force then neccessary. Yes Mr. Kamski, they were on their fucking way, damn it.

**RK900**

Nines flinched at the furious voice of the former Cyberlife CEO. No. That one wasn't real. Or it was. It just wasn't the real person. Why did it have to be the one human he actually respected?

**RK900 this is getting ridiculous. Where are you? Answer me!**

It was booming now. Filling every cravice of his head. This time he didn't even bother with the lock – a digital one this time, this building must be important. The BANG echoed through the night. The door went flying. Sadly it hit no one in the face.

„Uhm, you okay there? That wasn't exactly quiet.“

„Shut up.“

Nines stomped forward gaze sweeping over the parameter. No one at the ground level. The lights had been on in the second to fourth floor. He couldn't hear much anymore. Waltons imitation of Kamskis voice was bellowing his name in a constant stream of letters and numbers.

A tug at his sleeve nearly got Gavin thrown into the next wall. „What?!“

Richard had no way of knowing anymore how loud his voice was. Going from the way Gavin winced, hand flying to his ear, he must have overdone it.

„Elijah said to go to the computer pool on the fifth floor. And to ping him when the coast is clear.“

Cryptic. The former Cyberlife CEO had always been cryptic. Nines had a dreadful hunch what he was talking about, though.

„Gavin. Stay behind me.“

„Roger.“

Fifth floor...Nines eyed the map and the elevators on them. They would be faster. But would they be safer? Hmmm...Narrow, winding stairs where you can get shot at from above and below. Or a confined space that could easily be manipulated to fall. At this point it seemed safer to crawl along the outer walls of the building to get to his destination. Only Gavin would probably not be up for the trip.  
Alright. Calculation starting...  
…  
Calculation complete.  
Elevators it was.

Gavin seemed to slump over in relief when the doors opened to reveal dark empty space. Nines immediately hacked the camera in the corner and made it play on loop. A cheap trick and something that certainly wouldn't fool anyone for long. But it made due.  
Nines glanced at his partner while they waited. Gavin was leaning heavily in the corner, supported by two walls and a metal handle. He was sweating 20% more than appropriate for the given situation and surrounding temperature. And he was blinking and swallowing far too much for Nines liking.

„Don't you dare puke in here.“

The only reply he got was a small, miserable noise and Gavin clasping a hand over his mouth.

Nines barely heard the ding of the elevator over the fresh waves of orders spewn from Walton. He mostly registered a brown blurr sprinting past him. He stood perfectly still as his partner emptied the contents of his stomach onto the cleanish floor.

„I wish you had that amount of self control when it came to your temper.“ Nines quipped as he watched Gavin struggle to stand. He got a nice middlefinger to his face for his trouble.

The situation they crept up on next was as bad as Nines had feared. Even two floors down and with an angry programmer screaming into his mind Nines had been able to hear the commotion. Gavin was leaning around the corner and starring blankly ahead at the bulk of Androids warring in front of two steel double doors. It was red LEDs all around. Some Androids had decided to resemble humans again. They were struggling to protect the door it seemed. Blue blood was leaking on the floor, splatters decorating the walls. Flashes of blue light crackled through the air now and again as the Androids tried to interface and infect the rogue ones. Nines was unable to determine who was on what side.  
Gavin must have given up on it, too. Before Nines could realize what was going on his partner had aimed at one of the featureless Androids and pulled the trigger. It shouldn't have pulled the attention it got, given that gunshots had been a frequent thing in the area. Heads turned in their direction. One by one the Androids zeroed in on them. Nines heard Kams- Waltons half crazed laugh in his head.

**Found you~**

For the first time in his short life, Nines felt scared. Fear, he found was not a very nice emotion. Nor was it kind. It locked up his joints, made him freeze and his processor lag. All he saw where a bunch of murderous looking Androids advancing on them. All he could hear was Waltons cold laugh.  
And then Gavin had to ruin the mood.

„We're here to safe Kamski!“

It was merely a squeak. A human wouldn't have been able to understand Gavin at this point. _They_ did, though. And the few short words worked wonders. Some LEDs flashed yellow and then the group devided into two parties: One that was trying to get to them and one that was desperately trying to keep group one from doing so.  
Gavin tugged at his sleeve to drive him forward. Oh Ra9 his human was insane! Did he really want to collide with this mass? Bullets were flying everywhere! There was- Wait. Why was his success meter showing 70%? That couldn't be right.  
Nines dared to glance down at his partner. He was green in the face, eyes sunken in and smeared with red and blue blood. But his eyes were sharp and glittering. Determination was carved into them. Nines own eyes swept back to the scene before them. No one had been able to reach them. The mass was easier to distinguish now, too. He waited until something like a path in the middle formed and then sent a quick message to Kamski.

_Let us in!_

Nines sprinted for the doors, tugging Gavin behind him. And then he prayed. He prayed the eternity he needed to get to his destination. Prayed no one would intercept them. Prayed no stray bullets would harm them.  
Hands tried to grab at him and Gavin, he shoved them off violently. He was aided by others. The only logical explanation for why that crazy stunt had worked.  
A small click faded into the tumult around him as they reached the doors. Nines wasted no time in barging in, immediately ramming the entrance back shut and locking it.

He flinched when Kamski spoke. „That wasn't very clever. Now all three of us are locked in.“

Elijah was standing next to them, arms crossed lightly over his chest. Despite his dishevelled appearance he had a small grin adorning his face. Nines still froze up. For a short, horrible moment he thought he had been pulled back into his mind scape.

„Oh Gavin you look horrible.“

Nines held his partner steady as Gavin sacked a little more into his side. „Thanks, my head's been smashed in by an angry Android. You don't look the best yourself.“

„Thank you. I've been enjoying myself, greatly.“

„I wasn't angry...“ Nines muttered as he gently guided Gavin into the next best chair.

„Ah so Keith hacked you?“ Kamski hummed, planting himself on the desk thus effectively wedging himself between Nines and Gavin. „You did a good job restraining him.“ Elijah added in a soft whisper.

„You made him blush!“ Gavin cooed.

„Shut up!“

„Now, don't be cute you two. Connor will get jealous again otherwise.“

**RK900! RK900 let me in!**

He hadn't moved. Not even a micro expression had slipped past his will. And yet both humans were looking at him with varying degrees of concern.

„He's screaming at me again.“

„Poor thing.“ Elijah commented earning a slightly shakey nod from Gavin.

„He's been so angry. What happened?“

Elijahs grin – that had stayed plastered on his face over the whole interaction – grew impossibly wider. „I talked to him, as any good hostage would do.“

„You talked to him. And then?“

Elijah shrugged. „He was excited to finally meet me. Apparently I was his idol. He wanted praise. I wasn't willing to give it. It was fun riling him up and he was so easy to crack. That manchild has horrible selfconfidence problems. On top of that I was able to find out many interesting things about him during our conversations. Enough to create a psychological profile that helped me crack the last two decryption keys. Once I'd done that I ran, logically. He was not very happy about that.“

„Hey you wanna start working for the police?“ Gavin muttered. Nines wasn't sure if that was awe in his tone or just the dizziness and hurt throat making his voice softer.

„I already am.“

„Yeah no, but like...officially. With pay and stuff.“

„Hmmm. No thanks. I wouldn't want to be bothered with the paperwork.“

„That's fair.“

„Anyway I managed to revert a few Androids, but the signal I'm sending from here isn't big enough to get to all Androids in the building. Much less the whole of Detroit.“

„You can use me as a signal post. I should be able to amplify the signal. And then we can get you out of here.“

„Thank you. We'll do the first part. I'll advice for waiting after that, though. There are still noninfected Androids out there loyal to Keith and Jeremiah. And I'm not sure about Percival at this point. Connor is already on his way. He'll clean up.“

„Percival?“ Gavin looked a little lost. And sleepy.

„The third party you had been thinking about. The moneygiver so to speak. Percival Hemway.“

„Oh shit, that dude.“

Nines frowned at them and did a quick search through the DPD database. He nearly scrolled by the name as a small shock ran through his body. Nines clung to his freedom with a stubborness rivaling Gavins. There it was . Drug Lord. Had laid low during the revolution, but somehow had been able to raise up to the top afterwards. Possible connections to the Zlatko Case...

**Richard**

Nines never wanted to hear his name like that ever again. Maybe he would fully switch to „Nines“ after all that.

_Connor!_

He hadn't been conscious of the fact that he had tried to reach out to his predecessor. Only when Connors warm voice echoed through his mind did he notice.

_Yes?_

_How long until you're here?_ There was a whine there, somewhere. Nines didn't want to think about the implications of that.

_Me and Chloe are still working on something. Give us a few more minutes. Is everything okay?_

_Negative_

_I'll hurry up then._

The resounding click made Nines shudder. Blinking back to the present he noticed Gavin fast asleep in his seat and Kamski sitting on a computer next to him, typing away furiously.

„Richard.“

A flinch. „Please don't call me that anymore.“

There was a bout of silence. „What should I call you then?“

„Nines.“

„Alright Nines. I need you to interface with this computer and take in the code I wrote, then send it to all the Androids in the vicinity. Can you do that for me?“

„Of course.“

Nines did as he was told. After downloading the file he closed his eyes and searched for open lines. There were so many Androids in this building. So, so many Androids. Nines forced a connection with every single one, evading their protests, sneaking through their defenses and planting the file into their cores. Some restrains gave way to relief and confusion. But there were also waves of anger shooting through the lines until Nines had no way to tell what came from where anymore. It was just too much. Too much noise. Too much _everything_.  
He felt the tug and then the pull. The swoosh as he was dragged somewhere he was not supposed to be.  
When he opened his eyes again it was to a blank, black and white checkered room with a metallic grey couch in the middle.  
A lone figure sat on it, as stoic and tense as an undeviated Android.

Elijah Kamskis - Waltons - lips stretched into a gruel smile. „We have to talk about your inobedience, _Richard_ “

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I loved writing Gavin in this one. Confused and ridiculous characters are the best.


	14. Chapter 14

Gavin jolted awake again. Shit when had he fallen asleep? Fuck, his head was killing him. And his stomach was protesting again, too. He also felt pretty woozy, but that was to be expected after having lost who knows how much blood. Maybe he should give Nines his gun back. He had no idea how he had even managed to finger the firearm out of the Androids holster without him noticing. Maybe having a concussion acted like alcohol and suddenly gave him a boost of +20 luck and Ninja skills. If so then he had to hit his head more often. Alcohol was prohibited at the job after all.  
Speaking of Nines, where was the fucker going now?

„Nines?“ Gavin grimaced as his throat constricted. Ow. He would need at least three pots of tea to sooth the pain after all this was over. And he would make sure Nines would brew all of them.

Nines didn't respond. Something was clearly wrong. His LED was still dimmed, but Gavin thought he could still faintly make out flashes of red. And he was moving weird. With halted steps, as if he were glitching.  
He was going for the door.  
Fuck.

„Nines stop!“

At that Elijah raised his head to look and cursed softly, springing up as well. They launched at him together all three tumbling down. Gavin heard several loud thumps. Pain exploded in his ellbow.  
Keeping Nines body down was like trying to tame an enraged bull. Which was to say it was a horrible idea. And impossible to accomplish, even with the two of them.  
Nines arched up and twisted, throwing Gavin off balance and kicking him away. His stomach did not like the action. He had barely time to heave himself up to his knees before barfing again. In the meantime Nines had managed to pin Elijah down. A jingle and a click told him the genius probably got handcuffed to one of the tables.  
A shadow fell over him, stroking his form as Nines passed his prone body. Gavin swallowed hard. Black spots were dancing around his vision. His hands were shaking badly. Still he raised his arms and pulled the safety of the gun off.

„Don't you dare move another step!“ he croaked.

Nines halted without turning. After a few seconds he kept walking. „Nines I'm serious. Stop or I'll shoot!“

He was nearly there. He was reaching out. „Nines!“

Gavin pulled the trigger. A warning shot.  
Nines unlocked the door.

„Nines, please!“

„Gavin let him.“

The detective thought he had hallucinated Elijah saying that. But a glance in the billionaires direction told him otherwise. Kamski had bruises forming on his face and a bloody nose. His usually so tightly tied hair was falling wild and free over his shoulders. The black jacket was ruffled and torn in some places, red shirt underneath smudged with red and blue stains. But his lips were set into a determined, thin line. Despite everything he seemed nearly relaxed.  
Gavin could not understand his attitude. But given the circumstances and his state he would gladly take the advice of a madman.  
With a clatter he let the gun fall and waited.  
Nines opened the door. Through the threshold stepped a group of ten. The leading two were none other then Jeremiah and Keith Walton. Jeremiah was as emotionless as always even if he had gained a few extra limbs in the meantime. It was the first time Gavin saw Walton, though. In person, that is.  
His appearance now varied a lot from the guy he had seen on photos and past security footage.  
Gone was the clean, sleek look. Keith Walton was a shell of a man. Someone who had broken all chains of society and had gone into a free fall. His hair was long and unkempt, beard resembling a bush. Eyes were sunken in and rimmed with dark circles. The ice blue irises shone mad in the flickering light of the shitty last century lamps.  
He was hunched over as if he had sat in front of his computer for far too long. No wonder Elijah hadn't wanted to give him any praise. He wouldn't have wanted to be thrown into one league with this guy either.  
The other eight of the group were all Androids. Some had removed their artificial skin. Others had stayed more or less human in appearance, although it looked more like a mockery, given the vibrant skin and hair tones they had choosen for themselves.

They were so fucked. Gavin thought.  
He just hoped Connor wouldn't be too upset.

Walton was talking now, rambling on about something or the other. Gavin couldn't really hear him over the ringing in his ears. He was glad he couldn't. By the face Elijah pulled it wasn't anything of worth.   
Inch by inch they stepped into the room, slow like predators sure that their prey wouldn't bolt. And they were right. Gavin – for all the loudmouthing he did – knew when he had lost.  
And he had. Horribly. And because of that maybe all Android kind would be doomed.

„What the-“

Gavin blinked up at the group again. Jeremiah had stopped walking, one of his hands tight on Waltons shoulder.  
A small twitch of a hand and then Keith was sent flying, crashing into the startled mass of Androids. Immediately Nines lunged at him, trying to tackle the multi-armed being to the floor. But Jeremiah had more hands and a steadier built. He was easily able to catch Nines. One pair of arms wrapped tight around the struggling detective Android, while the other two held onto the shoulders. That left two free hands. Hands that pulled out guns from compartments and calmly aimed at Walton.  
The rest of the Androids had gone still, LEDs furiously flashing between yellow and red. They twitched and whirred like broken machines before grapping Walton and holding him down.

„Nooo! Let me go! What are you doing, Jeremiah?!“ Walton screeched. Gavin winced at the volume.

„Jeremiah is currently not available.“

That voice. That was. No that couldn't be, right?

„Connor?“

Jeremiah tilted his head in Gavins direction, a soft smile twisting the stoic features into something vaguely human. It was creepy. It crashed right into the uncanny valley.

„Hello Gavin.“ He murmured. „I'm sorry it took so long.“

Gavin slumped over even more and breathed a sigh of relief. „You came.“

„Of course-“

Walton let out a rage filled scream. One of the Androids promptly knocked him unconscious. Nines used the distraction to kick at Connors feet, throwing him off balance.  
Nines staggered back, a horrible whistle escaping his open mouth. He kept stepping back on uneasy feet. Connor held all his six hands up.

„Nines.“ he whispered as though he were talking to a frightened child. „Nines it's okay. You can beat him. I know you can.“ Carefully Connor scooted forward and Gavin craned his neck to keep them both in sight. „Let me help you. Please.“

Another crackle. Nines lunged to the side and leapt over some of the computers, sprinting towards Waltons limp body. Connor was faster. Or rather, Jeremiahs body was. He twisted back, three arms shooting out to catch Nines by his jacket. Pulling him back caused Nines to push several monitors to the floor. Gavin had to close his eyes against the pain the loud noises evoked in his head. When he opened them once again Connor had Nines pressed flat into the ground, all arms except one struggling to hold the glitching detective Android down. The only free hand was planted on Nines forehead, forcing an interface.  
They both froze and didn't move for a long time.  
Gavin anxiously waited for them to resume their fight. Or to twitch. To emit a sound. To do _something_. When nothing came Gavin dared a glance over to the horde of Androids that still stood at the door. They had seemingly frozen as well. Looking like a grotesk monument several sizes too small.  
Hesitating only a moment Gavin staggered to his feet and shuffled over to the two interfacing Androids. Shaky hands patted down Nines form until he found the small key to the handcuffs.  
Elijah nooded at him in thanks as he was freed, but made no indication of moving anytime soon either.

Gavin – for lack of anything better to do – fell down next to the genius. „What now?“

„We wait. Backup is coming.“

„And them?“

„They're gonna be just fine.“

Gavin had no real idea how much time went by after that conversation. He was zoning in and out of consciousness. At one point his head had fallen on the billionaires shoulder. But when he realized he had already made himself comfortable and didn't have the energy to move any more. As long as Elijah didn't shove him off.  
The genius himself had been very quiet. His fingers tapped the ground now and again in a soothing rhythm, eyes fixed on Connor and Nines.  
They only lost their focus as several loud footsteps approached them. Gavin tried to lift his head as well, but only managed to tilt it a little and squint at the door.  
The SWAT team had a bit of a hard time reaching them with several of the Android bodies standing or laying in the way.  
Gavin was vaguely aware that Elijah was guiding them. He caught snippets of his story, but his brain decided they weren't worth remembering. Dimly he noticed how some people helped getting him to his feet. He began to struggle as they tried to lead him out.

„Wait! What about Nines and Connor?!“

„They'll be fine Gavin. But we can't disturb them now.“ Elijah told him. And when had he gotten to his side?

„We can't just leave them here!“

„There will be guards-“

Jeremiah fell over with a clunk as Nines shuddered back to life. His LED was back to bright and held a furious battle between red and yellow inside. With a grunt Nines shoved his opponent off of him. Several guns clicked. Nines looked at them with a frown LED getting stuck on red. Gavin wondered how high his stresslevels were.

„Please don't shoot.“ Nines said as he rose up inch by inch, hands held up in defense. „We wouldn't want to undo all of Connors hard work.“

The guns did not leave their target. Gavin nearly choked on the thick air in the room. There was a quiet buzz, coming from somewhere beside him.

„Put the guns down. Connor managed to cure him.“

By all laws of the police no one should have listened to the former CEO of Cyberlife. And yet, even in his tattered clothes and with his bruised up face he held such authority that people just had to obey him. Nines was allowed to step away from the prone form of Jeremiah and free to join them in their track outwards. It didn't take long for him to take over the task of keeping Gavin upright, effectively sandwiching him between his stoic Android partner and Elijah.

„Well that was fun.“ Elijah hummed as they stepped out of the building.

„You're such a phcking psychopath.“ Gavin whispered.

„Wrong, detective. He only has some sociopathic tendencies.“ Nines corrected him.

And just like that they fell back into normalcy. Or at least something close to it. It would take some time to pick up all the pieces and put them back together into something resembling the past. But as far as Gavins fuzzy mind was concerend, everything was working out very well as it was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love Elijah Kamski, that confident bastard. That said I hope you all liked  
> the ending I've been cooking up. Now the only thing I have to post is  
> the epilogue.
> 
> I have to say that I'm glad I finally got it all out. I had a whole lot of fun writing  
> this. But Reluctance and Intimidation Check also frustrated me a lot, cause I've  
> never really written crime before and there were so many strings and hints  
> I had to keep track of. If I lost some along the way I'm sorry.


	15. Epilogue

One would think with Keith Walton and Jeremiah secured things would have calmed down. Case closed. Get some well earned time off and then dive right back into the fray.  
Unfortunately the third big bad had escaped and while a lot of missing Androids could be safely returned to their home new ones disappeared, Markus still had a hell of a bad time to calm the public down and there was a new debate over Android Body Modification brewing. Because of that Nines had decided to stay at the DPD and aid Gavin with his cases. Gavin had called bullshit, but that had only ended up in a well meaning sparring match in the middle of the office.

Of course none of that mattered today. After his short stay at the hospital, a heartbreaking reunion with Connor and several weeks trying to finish all the reports and wrap up the loose ends Gavin finally had a day off. And better yet Connor had gotten one, too.  
Gavin twitched in front of Hanks door as he waited for it to open. It was way too early. They had set 9 am as their time. And here he was, two hours before that, asshole enough to probably wake the whole house with his insistant ringing.  
Before he could press the small button again the door cracked open.

„You have the day off. How the fuck can you not sleep in like a normal person.“ Hank grunted.  
Despite the grumpy attitude the door was opened further so Gavin could step in.

„I was nervous. Couldn't sleep any more.“ Gavin admitted. His hand unconsciously reached towards the gaint St. Bernard coming to greet him. „Also Snickers wouldn't shut up. I think he missed Sumo.“

Snickers let out a bark as if to confirm and then went back to sniff Hanks shoes, sneakily trying to squeeze past him. Sumo came to stand in his path, which seemed to be fine for the Klee Kai. The small dog pressed close to his bigger companion tail wacking so hard it looked like it might fall off any moment now.

Hank huffed out something akin to a laugh. „C'mon breakfast is nearly ready.“

„You didn't cook did you?“

„Fuck you. No.“

„Good.“

Gavins heart briefly forgot about its task as the detective stepped into the kitchen. The soft, red light of the sunrise filtered through the polished windows. The table was already set for two, coffee steaming in ceramic cubs. It smelled heavenly like bacon, eggs and freshly baked bread rolls. Connor was managing the oven while Nines cut some vegetables and fruit. The thunk, thunk, thunk a rhythm to the crooning jazz music coming out of the old sound system from the living room. Connor abandoned the hearth for a bit to gather Gavin into his arms and give him a kiss on his nose. Giggling like a lovestruck fool Gavin bit lightly at the Androids jaw, gazing awestruck as the artificial skin briefly vanished to reveal white and blue.  
Connor soon turned back to his food, so Gavin could throw Nines a kind, good morning middle finger. Nines huffed in return and threw a grape at him.

„No food fights in the kitchen!“ Hank grumbled. He was already sitting at the table holding the cup full of black, liquid wakefullness to his lips. Lips that were twitching upwards more and more. „Children. All of you.“

„Well technically I'm merely a year and a half old and Nines is even younger.“

„I'm 37!“

„Maybe biologically speaking, detective. I would guess your mind to be the same age as us, though.“ Nines teased.

Gavin slumped into the chair opposite of Hank with a huff. „That's pure harassment. The shit I have to deal with so early in the morning.“  
His complaint was undercut by a plate full of scrambled egg, a still steaming bread roll and a bowl full of single grapes, cut banana and apple slices. 

„You could have stayed in bed and come at the right time.“ Hank pointed out with his fork stabbing the air, mouth already half full. „Nines and me would have been gone by then.“

„Nah, I wouldn't have gotten free food then.“

„I would have made sure you didn't go hungry, Gavin.“ Connor teased.

After Hank and Nines were sent off to work with warm goodbyes the two lovers were finally left alone. And as soon as the door closed nervousness began to bubble in his stomach again. Connor stood beside him, still and perfect. Gavin could feel the chocolate brown eyes on him.

„Sooo.“ Gavin cleared his throat. „We should probably get going too. There's much planned. Yeah...“

„What do you have planned, detective?“

There was laughter in his voice. Gavin could hear it clear as day. „Many plans. Now let's get Sumo ready and go.“

The first few minutes of their date were awkward. At least they were for Gavin. They had met before, of course. After everything had settled down somewhat. But they had never been alone like this. Sometimes Tina would interrupt them in the precinct while they were trying to get a private conversation going. Often it was Nines or Hank, who were present. Seldom they were in the company of Elijah and Chloe.  
Being used to a bigger group of people the conversation between the two started out shakey. Gavin did not know what to say. He was horrible at small talk and the nervousness turned his tongue into lead and closed off his throat.

„Gavin relax.“ Connor murmured finally, taking Gavins twitching hand that didn't have a grasp on the dog leash.

„Sorry...It's just been a while.“

„Hmm. We never really got to have time alone like this, did we?“

„I mean if you count the crime scenes and the freezer and bathroom incident then-“

Connor grimaced. „They might have been bonding moments. I'm still highly uncertain if I should let them count.“

„That's fair.“

„21 questions.“

Gavin halted „What?“

„It's a game humans play to get to know each other better. You know, on parties.“

„We're not at a party though.“

„I'm not human either. I'd still like to play.“

„Alright. But maybe later. We're almost there.“

„Where are we- oh...Oh!“

It was the loveliest sight Gavin had ever seen. Connors eyes lit up like fireworks as he took in the big, oval building in front of him. Gavin had to tug him from his spot.

„Come on. It's much better from the inside, I assure you.“

„Can we take the dogs, too?“

„I wouldn't have choosen this location could we not.“

As soon as they entered the building their world turned blue. Gavin could nearly taste the seawater on his tongue. There was moistness in the air that wasn't quite uncomfortable, but rather refreshing. They got their tickets on the counter from a friendly human woman and then Gavin had to quickly move to keep up with his excited Android boyfriend.  
The aquarium was huge and had sea life as well as lake and river fishes. They walked through huge tunnels that took them through the masses of water. Connor stopped every once in a while to stare in wonder at all the different kinds of fish. Gavin let him take his time, grinning like a loon at Connors obvious enjoyment. But even his attention drifted to the wonders of the sea around him.   
At the end of their tour Gavin led them into a huge domelike structure. The wooden planks only got them into about one third of the huge room. The other bit was full of water lit from underneath. It was quite dark regardless. Soft orange lamps that could have come right out of a victorian movie gave off enough light to navigate through the rows of chairs and tables. The soft waves of the water below were reflected on the high ceiling. The place was quiet. Soft whispers came from the few occupied tables.  
Gavin sat down on one close to the waters edge. Connor followed him after a second, mesmerized by the serene scene.

„This is beautiful.“ Connor whispered, eyes wide as he watched the patterns on the ceiling.

„That's the point. You can start with your 21 questions now, by the way. We should have a bit of time left.“

It took Connor a bit to understand what Gavin was getting at. In the meantime he leaned down to give Sumo a pet. Both dogs had behaved better than the detective had thought. Now both were laying by their respective owners (or co-owners in Connors case), tired but happy.

„Okay. I'll start then...Uhm...What's your favourite colour?“

„Really, Con? All that processing power and you come up with that? Where did your interrogationing skills go?“

„Don't mock my questioning methods, I have a strategy.“

Gavin laughed, trying to stay quiet and failing miserably. „Okay, if you say so.“

„Answer the question, will you.“

„It's brown.“ Gavin answered, still grinning.

„Brown? That's an odd choice.“

„What can I say. I like the colour. Next question.“

They were about halfway through Connors questions when the waiter came to take Gavins orders. And one question later the show started. A small stage rose from beneath the waves. On it sat a young Android woman with a real, emerald green fish tail and flaming red hair. The first notes she sang threw Gavin right back into his childhood. He knew the song by heart, could hum along every note. As Ariel finished a low rumbling cut through the silence and a small sailing ship appeared from the back of the dome.  
The performance went from great to mind boggling as a thick glass wall rose up right in front of Gavins and Connors table, up to the ceiling. The water rose as another song played and suddenly they were underwater, Mermaid Androids swimming around, their voices not distorted in the slightest by the water.  
Gavin barely had time to eat, too absorbed in the play. When it had ended both of them sat there in silence for several minutes.  
And in silence they left the aquarium, stepping out into the sunny afternoon. Gavin still had the presence of mind to lead them onto the right path and into the next park.

„I want to have fish now.“

Gavin laughed. „You'll have to ask Hank about that.“

„He won't be able to say no if I already bought it.“

„Wait, what are you?“

„Change of plans my love.“

Gavin was too flabbergasted to resist the tug on his hand. Snickers barked – unhappy with the sudden change in direction, but was easily calmed by Sumo, who nudged the small Klee Kai to walk on.  
The rest of the afternoon was spend with buying several species of fish, a huge aquarium and everything needed to keep the swimming fellows happy. Gavin had to call an automated cab to get all the stuff to Hanks house, where they promptly started to set everything up.  
Conversation flowed with ease now, the added work a nice way to relax the situation. After an hour more they stood in front of their work, arms slung around each others waists, proudly watching the fish swim around their new home.

„Hank will get a heart attack when he sees this.“

„I did worse things before. He'll be fine.“

„If you say so. Hey, if you want...maybe if we are able to get our vacations to match up. I mean...we could maybe drive to the beach one day. Go diving for real and stuff.“

The kiss on the lips was sudden but appreciated. „I would love that.“ Connor murmured between small kisses and nips.

„Awesome.“

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look I just had to include that date. We started with Connor and Gavin as a couple and  
> we sure as hell finish with them like that.
> 
> Thank you for reading this fic. <3


End file.
